


Damsel in distress

by TheMidnightMoonChild



Series: Inside Riverdale [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Assault, Betrayal, Domestic Violence, Drug Use, Eating Disorders, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Gangs, M/M, Protective Sweet Pea (Riverdale), Sexual Content, southside serpents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 31,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21538933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMidnightMoonChild/pseuds/TheMidnightMoonChild
Summary: When Fangs uncle dies everything changes, his cousin Nell moves to Riverdale. And with a new bullet hole, and trouble following her, Sweet pea quickly starts changing as a person for the new women in his life.All chapters have been edited and updated.All characters are portrayed as 18+
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Fangs Fogarty & Original Female Character(s), Fangs Fogarty & Reader, Jughead Jones/Original Character(s), Jughead Jones/Reader, Sweet Pea (Riverdale) & Original Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale) & Original Female Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale)/Original Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale)/Original Female Character(s), Sweet Pea (Riverdale)/Reader, Sweet Pea/Toni Topaz
Series: Inside Riverdale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732675
Comments: 18
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please check chapters for trigger warnings. Tags will be updated as the story continues.

**Fangs trailer**

Sounds muffled, vision distorted - it's hard to breathe. Voices taunt, laugh, and her lungs scream for air. She can hear water piling passed the rapid pulse in her ears, her limbs are locked. She begs, cries, screams - but they do not listen. This may be the point where they finally kill her... One particular voice is faint, echoes - like coming from down a long tunnel. The more it speaks, the clearer, and closer it sounds. It's gentler than all the other voices. It says something. She focuses on it as it forms words. It sounds like a name.

Her name.

_Nell..._

She likes that voice. She tries to block everything out except that voice.

"...It's okay, Nell. You're safe; you're not in danger. I've got you.”

Her vision was getting clearer, her hearing less distorted. She was not choking for air; she was breathing too much, too fast. Nell greedily gulped as much oxygen as she could, while she still could. She was growing more lightheaded, her blood pumping madly from the overworking heart. But she could still hear that voice - feel the protective arms, which she clung to.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here..."

Her vision began to clear and a bathroom hazed into view. It's not her bathtub that she was sitting in. She's fully clothed, but never felt so vulnerable and exposed. She can't protect herself against them. All they want is pain, blood, revenge -

"Focus on me, Nell." The voice sternly interrupted her racing thoughts. "You're in my trailer now. You're safe, help is on its way." Her arms shaking with pain, and the adrenaline from fear. Her heart rattled against her chest, as a calming voice spoke to her. “What happened to you Nelly.”

Her breath still shook when she let it out, but she was able to do it slower this time. The dizziness finally began to subside. And it didn't feel like she was about to lose what little was in her stomach at any second.

Shit. She was having a panic attack.

"That's good. You're doing better. Just keep breathing. You'll be okay. I got you."

Following the soothing voice, Nell kept breathing - Gradually, the pressure in her chest eased and breathing no longer hurt, nor was it as difficult. She could see everything clearly, and she could see why she was sitting inside a bathtub. It was stained with her blood. Had she been jumped? She couldn’t remember? All Nell knew was she was in a lot of pain. There was something in the back of her mind, her ears were ringing. Then everything went dark.

# ______

Her dream was strange. Nell was staring at the man pointing a gun at her. She knew him, but wasn’t sure how. He was screaming at her, demanding to know why she was there, before pulling the trigger.

A soft voice began to gently pull her away from the horrible nightmare.

"It's okay. You're okay, now." The voice behind her began to crack. 

A banging noise caught both their attention, someone was thumping on the door.

“Fangs! What the fuck is going on, you said it was urgent in your text! This better be life or death” a females voice shouted from the other side of the trailer door.

Nell pursed his lips and nodded her head stiffly, giving him permission to go get the door. She wanted to scream, she was in so much pain, and mentally drained. Her body was stiff and sore. Not to mention she felt nauseated. The muffled voices from the other side of the door caught her attention. Fangs had mentioned something about a shooting? Hearing that made her glance at her shoulder, it was covered in blood.

"What..?” the females voice was a lot closer and softer "what happened this time?"

Nell couldn’t hear anything else that was said after that. What the hell? She was starting to become angry, she had no idea what had happened. She just wanted to go home...except she didn’t have one anymore. Nell needed to stop the bleeding, but she felt too weak to stand up.

"Fangs..." She urged firmly; he entered the bathroom again with a pink haired girl by his side. Who looked unimpressed, with her arms crossed. Nobody said anything as the pink haired girl looked between Fangs and the bleeding girl.

“You're looking better that you did a few hours ago; I’m glad you decided to come back.” Fangs said clearing his throat.

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have to 'come back' at all," Nell growled bitterly. "I can't even get out of this fucking bathtub.”

“Your lucky I found you when I did..." Fangs said softly.

"Let's not forget you’ve put me in a bathtub, instead of taking me to a hospital." Nell plowed on as if Fangs hadn't spoken.

"Nell, after what you've been through-" he was quickly cut off.

"And not to mention leaving alone! God, what am I, five?? Yeah, I bet that's a real commendable quality. My stupidity..." she groaned.

Fangs released another silent sigh as Nell's fist beat frustrated into the side of the tub. "Don't do that. What happened wasn't your fault. Nobody blames you for anything."

Toni raised her eyebrow, was this girl on drugs? The blue haired girl wasn’t making much sense. Judging from the wound and bags all over the living room, she assumed it was a robbery gone wrong. The serpents would kill Fangs if he had gotten involved with any dodgy dealings again.

Nell’s head was spinning. She hated small spaces anyway, but this tiny bathroom was making it worse. She didn't want to hear anything Fangs had to say, she just wanted to leave. It was bad enough that she couldn’t remember how she got there. The fact that she was found staggering by the side of the road, by her cousin - made it all worse. And Nell hated the pity - the way he hadn't even thrown a jibe at her. She couldn't stand the way the pink haired girl looked between him and her - as if they were aliens. Nell hated feeling this helpless - hated being this helpless.

What the hell happened to strong, independent, unshakable Nell Martian, that didn’t take shit from anyone? She had disappeared a long time ago. Now she was having a panic attack in a questionably clean bathtub, possibly bleeding out.

“I want out" Nell said in a low voice. "Help me out of here” she said in a frustrated huff.

Fangs wasn’t one hundred percent sure if she meant the gang life, or the bathtub. But he went with the latter for now. “Okay, just take it slowly.”

A scoff was her only answer as she pushed herself up. Nell stopped short when she had to grab onto the rim of the tub when her balance wavered for a moment, but the pink haired girl took her other side, as they helped her to the couch. The bed was too far away to walk her. It was strange, she hadn’t drunk any alcohol in months but felt drunk.

“Try to get some sleep, I’m just going outside to phone FP” Fangs watched his cousin frown before closing her eyes. “I’ll be back soon”, was all he said before leaving the trailer.

Toni stood with her arms folded, as she shook her head. Why was she to watch this girl? Who was she? And how did she know FP? Toni was getting a little fed up with being left out the loop. The serpents had hit another rocky patch recently, the ghoulies had been causing more problems recently, and nobody was discussing how to deal with it.

Toni watched the blue haired girl stir, she looked like death warmed up. She was extremely pale and thin, she didn’t look healthy at all, probably a drug addict like she first thought. 

**Sweet Peas trailer**

Sweet pea threw his phone on the night stand as he groaned. He was pissed nobody has responded to his texts.

He had come home from a ‘date’ earlier than planned. She was hot, but had terrible conversation. Sweet pea had grown tired of banging brainless bimbos, he wanted someone to spent time with who was actually interesting. He made some terrible excuse to leave, he waited until was safely in her care before he jumped on his motorbike.

He had swung by the whyte wyrm looking for his friends, when he didn’t see any of the usual faces he headed back to his trailer. Neither Fangs nor Toni had text him back, he wondered what they were up too. Whatever it was, he bet it was better than his night.


	2. Chapter 2

_Pulling on the door, Nell quickly stepped into the diner and out of the downpour of rain. She paused for a moment to catch her breath after her quick dash through the wet parking lot, and to shake the excess moisture from her long mane of wavy washed out blue hair. Glancing around the room, she smiled. It was exactly as she expected; warm, clean and tastefully decorated. She couldn't help herself; she had to quickly scan the faces to see if he was here, even though she had already noted that his car was not present in the parking lot. None of the faces looked familiar._

_The waitress approached her with a kind smile. She requested a table for one, following her to a small booth near the back. The menu she left in front of Nell contained a variety of pastas and pizzas, with a large enough selection to please most people. The prices were reasonable, she noted with relief. Nell may have to return to this place often. Her eyes drifted again to the front door, watching expectantly for him to arrive. Forcing her eyes back to the menu, she reminded herself that this would require patience. Perhaps tonight wouldn't be the night, and she would have to wait till the morning to find him._

_Nell could have kicked herself for not remembering where her only remaining family in Riverdale lived. She was in the next town over, but had to stop for dinner - not something she usually done._

_The waitress appeared again soon to take her order. Her eyes were warm and friendly, and her manner extremely professional. She was an older woman, extremely beautiful with long gray hair tied up in a neat bun._

_Nell took her time, savoring every bite of her pizza, while sipping on her coke. She allowed herself to cast a glance at each new person who entered, looking for that familiar face. Trying to gain weight on her own wasn’t easy._

_She was pulling out her purse when, when she heard a screaming noise._

_They charged in with authority, brandishing guns. Their faces were obscured with ski masks; Nell gasped as she leapt to her feet. Gunfire pierced the air. The blasts were rapid and loud, a demented drum solo creating a horrifying melody. The sound paralyzed her. The sight sickened her. Innocent people fell to the floor, blood splatters now decorating the windows and floors._

_A nearby booth full of people dived under their table, hoping the wood could provide a shield from the bullets. Nell started to run towards the door, but her dash caught the eye of an attacker. A gun was slowly swung in her direction._

_The man pointed the gun at her, he cocked his head at her. “You?! What the fuck are you doing here?!” He screamed at her, he never gave Nell a chance to say anything. He pulled the trigger, shooting her in the shoulder. The man paused when he heard sirens, they gang that had caused this horrific act all ran away, dropping some money they had stolen from the till._

_Nell looked around, people were crying and screaming. Lucky nobody seemed dead, just injured. Nell pushed herself to her feet, and somehow managed to stumble outside. She left her cousin a mangled message, then the pain in her shoulder overtook her._

**Fang’s trailer**

Nell stared at her reflection in the cramped bathroom mirror. God, what an absolute shit show the last few weeks had been. The reality of the horrors she’d faced were only just beginning to sink in as she stood there. Scratches and bruises seemed to cover every other patch of skin on her pale body, she looked like something out of a nightmare. And then there was her shoulder. Her fucking shoulder.

Pressing a shaky hand to the bloodstained bandages, her mind cast her back to that moment. Being shot in the shoulder from someone she once knew, Nell sighed, no point dwelling on the past.

“Let me look at it.” A voice said from the doorway.

“I’m fine, It’s nothing.” Nell didn’t like the idea of a stranger touching her.

“I’m not going to leave it,” Toni practically spat - but keeping her voice quiet enough, so she wouldn’t be shouting. “Fangs didn’t drag you out of whatever hellhole he found you in just so you could die in a shitty trailer because of a fucking shoulder injury.”

Nell sighed and slumped against the sink, letting her bony shoulder sag towards Toni, “Fine”.

Toni sucked in a breath as she pulled away the bandage and finally got a good look at the wound. “Good God” she muttered, “you’re lucky you’ve not bled out.”

Nell winced at her use of the words, she didn’t want to die. She still wasn’t sure why Fangs didn’t take her to a hospital.

Toni bit her lip. “We should probably wash it out. You wouldn’t happen to have any more gauze in here, would you?”

Nell shook her head. “I - no. I don’t know.”

Toni frowned “Well, Fangs probably has a first aid kit lying around somewhere. I’ll be right back.”

Nell waited in the bathroom, as she heard rummaging going on throughout the trailer. Where the hell was Fangs? She didn’t understand what was taking him so long. Nell was nervous, she didn’t know what information Fangs had shared with anyone, including the pink haired girl. Even though she would never admit it out loud, she was scared. Apart from her cousin and FP she didn’t know any other serpents, and truthfully they intimidated her.

The door opened again, and Toni wandered back into the bathroom. She had a plastic container tucked under one arm, and a washcloth in her other hand. “Bingo!” She said sarcastically.

After a few moments of awkward silence Toni spoke again. “It looks like the bullet went cleanly through,” she pointed out, setting down the wash cloth and opening the first aid kit “That’s the good news, I guess.”

“And the bad news?” Nell asked her.

“Everything else.” She picked up a roll of bandages, and soaked the gauze in antiseptic before she pressed it onto the blue haired girls shoulder. She should probably find out her name.

“Jesus Christ.” Nell hissed, clutching her shoulder. She continued to pout but said nothing else, letting the serpent girl focus.

“There.” Toni tied off the bandage and gave Nell’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “I think you’ll live. I’d still get it looked at by a doctor.”

“Thanks.” Nell said quietly, she couldn’t bring herself to look her in the eye.

Toni shrugged again. “Don’t mention it... I don’t usually ask questions but, who are you? Serpents don’t usually bring just anyone in off the street.”

Nell paused. The question threw her for a moment, it made her think of the reason she had come to Riverdale. “I’m here for my dads funeral.”

Toni looked at her shocked, “You’re Eddie Emerson’s daughter?”

Nell nodded. Whenever she saw her father it was out of Riverdale, he didn’t want his children anywhere near the fucked up town. He grew up in the serpents, and would die a serpent, but it wasn’t the life he wanted for his children. 

**FP’s office**

“Is she okay?” FP asked concerned. 

He had been friends with Nell’s father and Fangs uncle for a long time, and knew all about the family’s situation. Eddie’s ex-wife forced their children to leave with her when they split up, regardless his daughter was still a serpent by blood, and would be treated as such if he had anything to do with it.

Fangs shook his head, he was sweating. “I panicked and didn’t take her to the hospital, I didn’t know if she was in trouble or not.” He sighed, his uncle would have been so angry with how he had handled the situation.

Fangs didn’t have much biological family, but he cared greatly for the small few that he had. Eddie was his mother’s brother, after his father left and his mum became sick, his uncle Eddie stepped up to look after them both. The only other family he cared for his cousin Nell, he had another cousin. Nell’s young brother Theo, but he was the black sheep of the family, and choose the ghoulies over them.

“What do we do?” Fangs asked, “if anyone finds out...”

“We tell nobody, we will wait till after the funeral. Then come up with a plan.” FP said with a sigh, this was dangerous. It was for the best nobody else found out, especially his son. Jughead has his own rules for right and wrong, he knew his son wouldn’t except Nell.

# ______

As Fangs walked out of FP’s office he pulled out his phone. He had a number of missed calls and text from sweet pea, he forgot they were meant to be working a shift together at the wyrm.

_‘Are you coming to work?’_

_‘Where the hell are you Forgarty?!’_

_‘What the fuck man? Bates is going batshit’_

_‘Toni said a blue haired girl is in you’re trailer, and that’s why you didn’t turn up for shift. Bates said I’m to let you knows you’re an hour away from being sacked. Again.’_

Fangs groaned and rolled his eyes. He would need to get Jones or FP to talk to Bates for him. His bosses real name was Lexi Andres, however they named her Bates because she reminded them of the creepy guy from Bates Motel. When he got outside he called Sweet pea, he felt bad. His friend probably got the brunt of their bosses anger.

“Hey man.” 

_“What the hell is going on Forgarty? Toni said your cousin turned up with a bullet hole in her? And she also looked drugged up.”_

“Nell’s never even smoked weed, she just has issues... And she got shot in a crossfire in a robbery last night.” Fangs explained.

_“Shit. Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?”_

Fangs sighed “it’s a long story, I can’t talk about it right now. I’ll swing by yours after I check on her.”


	3. Chapter 3

_On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross  
The emblem of suffering and shame  
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best  
For a world of lost sinners was slain_

_So I'll cherish the old rugged cross  
Till my trophies at last I lay down  
And I will cling to the old rugged cross  
And exchange it some day for a crown_

_To the old rugged cross I will ever be true  
Its shame and reproach gladly bear  
Then he'll call me someday to my home far away  
Where his glory forever I'll share_

_And I'll cherish the old rugged cross  
Till my trophies at last I lay down  
And I will cling to the old rugged cross  
And exchange it some day for a crown_

_I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it some day for a crown_

**FP’s car**

The funeral was bleak and grim. Her brother didn’t even turn up, even though he wasn’t usually welcome, the serpents would have given him a free pass for the day. Nobody expected her mother to bother to turning up. The minister looked drunk, and slurred his words. The ride to some bar for a wake wasn’t any better. She had zero say in anything to do with her fathers funeral, and any idea she suggested was shot down instantly. Nell couldn’t argue but, as the Southside serpents were paying for everything.

The older serpents argued they knew Eddie better than she did. Their comments didn’t bother her, because they were kind of right. Her father always kept her at arms length when it came to serpent business. She didn’t know that side of him, and now she never would.

The blue haired girl watched as the church disappeared Into the distance, along with the creepy graveyard. She sat in the front passenger seat, as five people were now squished together in the back, all of them looking ready to explode at one another. One of them was a lot taller than the rest, making it a tighter squeeze. Nell tried really hard not to show how frustrated she was getting with their bickering. FP, who was driving, occasionally glanced at his son and other serpents in hope they would behave... at least for one day.

Someone had been harassing Toni about her ex, which put her in an awful mood, that rubbed off on the other serpents. A funeral just made the already tainted atmosphere worse. Fangs said the serpents had been having financial problems recently, he said a few of them lost their jobs in the Northside, but he never explained why. 

**Whyte Wyrm**

The wake was held at a bar called the whyte wyrm, Fangs had explained how important it was to the serpents. He tried his best to make Nell feel comfortable, but how could he? Nobody knew her truth or her connection to Riverdale, except him and FP. So far he was glued to his cousins side ever since she came back, although they had hardly spoken. His light-hearted joke earlier about them both having gun shoot wound only earned him a glare.

Nell couldn’t take any of it in, the people who came, the food that was served, the songs that were playing. The only thing Nell took in was the drink that was being served. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Fangs said leaving her alone at the bar.

She watched as he walked over to a group of people, some who were in the car earlier. She tried to watch them without making it obvious. Jughead was FP’s son and the serpent king, next to him was a blonde haired girl called Betty. She seemed nice, but some serpents including FP didn’t seem to like her much. Next to her was a redhead with his arm slung round a girl with raven hair, Nell didn’t know why, but she took an instant dislike to her. Maybe it was her fancy designer clothes. She didn’t understand why they were at her fathers funeral, but she was too drunk to ask. Talking to Fangs was the tall boy from the car, she couldn’t put her finger on it but something about him was...different, more intense than the others.

“How’s the shoulder?” a soft-spoken voice from behind her said. Nell turned to face Toni. She smiled shyly at her.

“Sore...but would have been a lot of worse if it wasn’t for you. Thanks again.” Nell felt guilty for some reason, she probably came off rude last time they meet, or insane. “Who’s that Fangs is talking to?”

Toni turned to look, “that’s sweet pea.” Toni gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m really sorry about Eddie, he was a good man. I’m sure he would have been glad to finally see you in the Southside again.”

Nell just nodded and smiled a fake smile. She didn’t want to be rude and explained that he would when hated. “Did my dad know everyone here?” She asked staring in Jughead’s direction.

The pinked hair girl rolled her eyes, she had no idea why Jones friends came. “The dark haired girl is Veronica, a total daddy’s girl and rich, but she can be alright if you are on her good side. The redhead is Jughead’s _**friend**_ Archie Andrews.”

Nell couldn’t help notice the way Toni said the word ‘friend’, something had obviously happened. She didn’t actually care about strangers lives, but she’d take anything to get her mind off her current situation. “Yeah, What’s his deal?”

Toni leaned in closer to her “Archie and Jug grew up together, were as close as brothers. Jug actually lived with him for a while when FP was cleaning up his act, or in prison. Jughead became really close with the Andrew’s family. Our boy stepped up with Archies dad died, helped him out, returned the favour.”

Nell nodded, she had heard stories of FP being in prison and an alcoholic. She liked him regardless, he had always down right by her family.

“The virgin looking blonde is Betty, total snob and Northside princess. She was dating Juggy and cheated on him with Archie.” Toni said shaking her head. It was obvious why the serpents disliked her. “Archie and Jughead are fine now, but I bet Betty only came today for some kind of ‘moral support’ act to try to get back in his good books.”

Nell went to reply, when a voice boomed out of the microphone. They both turned to see FP standing on a stage. “Hello, thank you all for coming. We are here today to remember the life of one of our own, Eddie Emerson.” A cheer erupted in the bar. “He was one hell of a man. He lived life to the fullest, and would have done anything for his family. Wither it was his two children, or his serpent family.”

As FP continued with his speech, Nell felt a pair of eyes burning into the back of her head. She turned her neck to see sweet pea gazing at her, he swiftly looked away smirking when he realized she was staring back. Nell also noticed the look Jughead was giving her, what the fuck was his problem?

“So if you would all raise a glass to...” FP stopped talking when he was interrupted by a loud clapping sound.

Everyone’s attention turned to the main doors, and the person walking inside. “Great speech FP, but you left out some things.”

“This is not the time Penny!” He spat back.

Penny’s attention moved from FP towards the bar. A wicked grin grew, as she walked further into the room. “Well well well would you look at that... little Nelly all grown up.” She smirked as she walked closer to the young girl, “how’s Theo? Shame he couldn’t make it today, we have a lot to catch up on.”

The slap was as loud as a clap and stung Penny’s face. It had been an open-handed smack and it had left a red welt behind. Just below her eye was a small cut where one of Nell’s ring had caught her. Penny staggered backwards, clutching her face, eyes watering. “This isn’t over you little bitch” she growled.

Nell felt a lump in her throat as Penny left the bar, and all eyes fall on her. Including disappointed Fangs. However, the tall boy from before looked almost impressed, strange. She heard Toni gasp, before FP waved her and Fangs into the back room.

# ______

“What the hell are you thinking? I thought you understood you need to keep a low profile.” FP said in a low voice. He was pissed, but didn’t want anyone else to hear their conversation.

Nell said nothing, she felt like a child getting in trouble from her teacher. 

“In her defense, Penny had it coming.” Fangs shrugged. His cousin had every right to slap penny, god knows Penny Peabody has put them all through worse.

FP looked between the two of them, they didn’t seem to get it. “I can only keep you safe if you let me, what happens when a pissed off Penny goes and tells Ezra where you are?”

Nell gulped down, she hadn’t thought of that. 

“Wouldn’t you be able to arrest him? Domestic abuse? Drug dealing? Or whatever shit he has most recently done?” Fangs asked, glancing at Nell. He could see the fear in his cousins eyes. 

“With Penny as a lawyer? Nothing would stick without a lot of evidence, and even then she would have a trick up her sleeve. Until we have a handle on this, you BOTH need to stay out of trouble, and lie low. Got it?”

Both Nell and Fangs nodded, before leaving the back room with guilty looking faces.


	4. Chapter 4

**Pops diner**

“So... what’s going on with you and Jughead at the moment?” Veronica asked casually, she had been curious for a while now. 

Veronica and Archie had broken up a few years before as Archie wanted to travel and explore the world outside Riverdale, but they always said they would get back together one day. But Betty and Jughead? That was a different situation, he had broken up with her because he couldn’t trust her. He somehow managed to forgive Archie, but he could never fully trust Betty after he found out the two of them kissed.

Betty never answered her, she just swirled her straw around her drink shrugging her shoulders. Seeing Veronica’s inpatient face she decided to say something. “Everything’s fine V.” Betty smiled weakly.

“Betty I heard you crying the other night after leaving the funeral. Did he say something to upset you?”.

“It’s fine...he just stressed with different stuff every day.” There was an awkward pause, her relationship or lack of was something Betty was never comfortable discussing in public, and ever since her and Jughead officially split, she had been kept out of most ‘business’ since she was no longer considered a serpent, most the serpents hated her now. “Did you see in the news there has been more shootings? My mum has gone to Greendale to where the latest one was to see what she could find out.” Betty said as she leaned in to take a sip of her chocolate milkshake, quickly changing the subject.

“You talking about Riverdale’s new angel of death?” Cheryl said as she slid next to Veronica, “She’s related to one of the greasy snakes.”

“Who?” Betty and Veronica asked in unison.

Cheryl scoffed, as she flipped her red silky hair over her shoulder. “The newest serpent to slither about this town.”

“She’s not a serpent Cheryl, and she’s here because her dad died.” Betty said trying to shut down the conversation. 

She didn’t know much about Nell, but from what she saw that night she just seemed troubled, not a gang member. Betty had heard Jughead saying to Archie that he didn’t even know Fangs had family out of town, so she was now naturally curious about the Nell.

“Oh cousin I thought you would be glad, least with this blue scaled python the antics of daddy dearest and your creepy brother are long forgotten.” Cheryl said bitterly.

“Enough. That was years ago, nobody has spoken about it except for you.” Veronica snapped. “Speaking of serpents, you wouldn’t be holding any resentment because Toni choose them over you?” She asked smugly.

“No of course not. I can do better than trailer park trash anyway.” The redhead hissed.

“Okay good, because she’s coming in”, Veronica smiled sweetly as she saw Cheryl’s face turn red as her hair.

All three of them turned to see Toni walking in to pick up an order. No doubt it was for her and some other serpents. Toni glared as she saw them staring. The redhead still had a lot of anger about the breakup, she couldn’t understand why her ‘TT’ left her for a dirty biker gang, after assembling the pretty poisons for her. The redhead would have moved heaven and hell for her girlfriend, but it still wasn’t enough. There was only one thing Cheryl Blossom knew what to do when she's feeling this way, cause pain to others.

She glanced over to the booth Chuck was sitting at, “I’ll see you moths fluttering towards the lights of chaos soon.” Cheryl grinned before leaving them. 

**Fangs trailer**

The following days after her fathers funeral Nell had to be coaxed out of bed. Just hearings Penny’s voice had forced her to go into a very dark place in her head. It made her face everything she had been trying to suppress. Before the shooting, she could handle violence. She didn’t thirst for it like the ghoulies did, but she could stomach it, because she had to. Nell was desperate to change her life, but wasn’t sure how. Nell knew she was in danger, if the wrong person seen her in the Southside she would have hell to pay.

When Fangs opened the door to his trailer he Instantly rushed over to his cousin when he saw her crumpled in a heap in the corner of the room. He had only been gone twenty minutes, how could she be in such a mess? He had missed the two young boys shooting cans and glass bottles with a BB gun outside, the noise had triggered something inside Nell.

Heart wrenching sobs left the girls lips as she struggled for breath. Nell knew what was happening, they hadn’t happened for a while but Theo used to have very bad panic attacks when he was younger, and she used to suffer her own. Nell immediately fell into her protective cousins arms. “Hey, do you want to tell me what happened?” Fangs asked softly.

After a few moments Nell spoke quietly, her voice still tinged with sadness. “I couldn’t stop them…. I tried my best, I really did, but I just couldn’t leave Theo. I went back” she confessed. “I went back to that god-damn place. I found out they caused the shootings...I phoned the police and now they want to kill me.” Nell sobbed, tears subsiding slightly though she was still breathing erratically which she knew it would eventually pass and settle down.

Fangs spoke softly to her, telling her it was okay. He was much better at calming her down than FP had expected. Out of the younger serpents, Fangs had always been one of the softer more caring ones, but he was still tough as nails when he needed to be. Eventually, after taking in a few shots of tequila, they managed to get Nell to calm down. She told them everything she knew, and they promised to help her.

In the middle of the night Fangs heard Nell going outside for some ‘fresh air’ most commonly known as a smoking. He didn’t judge her, he expected it would take her a while to heal mentally and physically from what happened. What he didn’t expect was to hear the loud scream that she let out.

He rushed to the trailer door to find his cousin holding a skinned snake. “Guess someone left us a present” was all she said before throwing it into the bin. _Fucking ghoulies._

**Whyte wyrm**

Sweet pea pouted as he dried and put away glasses, it was almost four in the morning, and he was finally closing the bar up. It was initiation night for a couple of serpents, which led to a wild party in the wyrm.

Sweet pea and FP had to throw a couple of guys out of the bar for smoking weed. The past few years Joan’s had changed a lot of things, one of them being no serpent done drugs. If someone had a prescription for pain relief it was different, apart from that it wasn’t allowed, and you could get a struck against your name. That was another thing, the serpents now had a ‘three strike rule’ now.

Truthfully, sweet pea liked all these new rules and laws. The serpents needed to change otherwise they would have lost all values. A few years earlier jingle jangle sales was at an all-time high, a lot of townspeople became addicted to it, including serpents. A handful of serpents still at high school all took a bad batch and overdosed and died. It almost broke the serpents.

Sighing, he pulled out his phone. Sweet pea had one text from Toni that was a meme, and another two from Fangs saying they needed to talk.Locking to the door behind him, Sweet pea walked over to his motorbike. He noticed a black car with someone in it, whoever it was quickly drove off. 

Shrugging it off he drove to his trailer quickly, and didn’t think twice about it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Therapy**

Nell did not like seeing a therapist at all. Especially this one, she was young and always changing her moods. Her old therapist Mrs March was lovely, Nell was gutted when she retired.

“Hello, Miss Martian. How are you today?” the female asked from her seat across from a black leather chair. The room was reminiscent of a classroom clattered with many toys and various books for the younger patients the woman sees. The corner they were in was a more traditional set up with dimmed lights and the proverbial couch.

“Fine,” was all Nell was willing to offer.

“That’s good!” the woman was far too excited for the girls taste. “This is a safe space. I allow you to feel what you feel, and I only ask that you do the same.” The woman adopted a patronizing tone as she was talking to the child in. The girl never answered, as she was busy pressing against her shoulder.

“How do you feel at this moment?” The therapist asked.

“I feel itchy and tired.” Nell said in a huff, she eventually went to a real doctor who scolded her for leaving it for so long. Her stitches were extremely itchy.

“Why do you feel that way?” the woman asked.

“I got shot in the shoulder.” Nell wasn’t sure why she was explaining this, the therapist already knew what had happened. “And I don’t have anyone to cover for me at work.”

“Well, that's a plus!” The woman was more excited than the situation called for. “Let’s talk about what we came here to talk about. Your doctor said you had previously suffered from an eating disorder caused by stress. What would you say stresses you out?” 

“Right now, missing work.” Nell said in a frustrated sigh. _Also I keep getting dead snakes sent to me, my father died. I now live with my cousin who is in a gang, and my mother and brother are part of a rival gang who want revenge on me for grassing them into the police._

“Well, why does this stress you out so much?” the therapist inquired.

“Because I’m losing money.” Nell said eyeing her.

“I’m trying to get to the root of your problem, so I can give you the best treatment option.” The women closed her notes to look the blue haired girl in the eye.

“You already know the problem is stress. Why don’t you just give me the treatment for stress?” Nell asked.

“I can’t because there are many causes of stress. Sometimes it is easiest to just find the source and snuff it out. You will more than likely need more therapy if you don’t let me help you now, and it won’t be an easy task if you don’t open yourself up,” the woman explained, maintaining eye contact the entire time.

“I like myself closed, especially to someone I just met”. Nell insisted.

“Well, you don’t have to tell me your innermost secrets, just tell me a little about what’s been going on with you? How long have you suffered from an eating disorder for?” The woman asked.

“For five years..I think. But I don’t have it anymore.” Nell responded more calmly.

“Why did you not seek help sooner?” The doctor asked, while looking her up and down. Nell looked at lest two stone underweight of what she should.

“It stopped when I got more in control of my life. Only reason I’m here is because my usual doctor insisted on it.” Nell deadpanned, she hated having to explain herself “Don’t you have all my information in notes?”

“Do you think maybe that your stress and anxiety comes from feeling overwhelmed?” The doctor got her pen ready, answering Nell’s question with a question.

“I find it unpleasant, yes, but as for what causes my problems the answer is I couldn’t tell you.” Nell responded.

“How do you feel about your family in general?” The women delved deeper into the topic.

“What do you mean?” She asked confused asked.

“Family problems can cause feelings of being overwhelmed.” The woman clarified.

Nell screwed her face up at the question. She couldn’t talk about her family, it wasn’t like most people’s.

“What’s stressing you right now?” The women asked.

“I’m... I just don’t know”, that was a lie. Nell knew exactly what was giving her sleepless nights, but she could never tell anyone.

**Whyte wyrm**

Toni rolled her eyes as she sat across from Jughead, he had bought her a burger from pop’s on her lunch break. They sat outside across from each other on benches. The pink haired girl usually enjoyed her friend’s company, however the past few weeks he was growing increasingly annoying.

“Jug when will you let this go?” she scoffed before taking a drink of her beer.

It was only one in the after none, but working in a bar had its perks.

“I’m just saying it’s weird. Nobody knew Fangs even had a cousin, I thought Eddies children were a lot older the way he spoke of them. Plus my dad acts shifty whenever somebody asks him a question about Nell.”

Toni rolled her eyes again, he was a broken record. “Speaking of king of the serpents, has FP fully forgiving you for stepping down?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

He frowned at the question, everybody knew it was a touchy subject. Jughead couldn’t stay mad a Toni though, he knew she was only teasing him. “Don’t change the subject.”

“God, I don’t know what this obsession with her is”, she laughed taking a sip of her drink.

“I’m not obsessed. I just don’t trust her”, he said defensively. “I understand coming to Riverdale for her dads funeral. But turning up with a bullet hole in her shoulder, not to mention her shady behavior.” He leaned in a little closer so only Toni could hear him. “Also all these skinned snakes turning up isn’t a good sign, it’s everywhere she goes. Pop’s, Fangs trailer, the bar, my dads trailer.”

“Juggy” Toni groaned, “Not this again please.”

“The constant disappearing act. The secret meetings she’s having with my dad, the sudden fondness of the serpents. Also, she always stares at sweet pea. Did Fangs tell you she got a bucket of pig intestines sent to her work as well? She’s hiding something, and I’m going to prove it.” He continued to ramble on, until he was cut off.

“Jughead”, Toni said putting her hands on his “I think have been really bored, since you and Betty split up for good. You are looking for a new project to become obsessed with to distract you and it seems like she’s it.” The pink haired girl leaned back, taking another sip of her drink and shrugged. “I didn’t like her at first, but after spending time with her she’s nice. You should give Nell a chance before going all detective on her ass.”

He nodded. Pretending to take his friends advice, he still had plans to look into this mysterious girl. 

**Fangs trailer**

Nell frowned she had only gained a couple of pounds in a month, she had followed her doctor’s orders and noting. Sighing she got dressed, before stepping into the living room.

The blue haired girl was surprised to see Fangs had a guest, she hadn’t heard anyone come in.

“Nelly” Fangs said cheerfully, he knew the nickname annoyed her. “I don’t think you have properly met my guy Sweet pea.”

Nell just gave him an awkward smile, she wasn’t expecting Fangs friends to come round. Feeling like she was intruding in her cousins space, she excused herself before leaving the trailer.

# ______

Nell went a walk by the river, it was peaceful and quiet. The sound of the water flowing was almost hypnotizing, it’s what she needed to clear her head. The only other sound was the birds in the trees.

Sighing Nell turned to head back to the trailer park, when she spotted another person nearby. Not thinking anything of it she continued walking by them as normal.

“Usually I like a woman with a little more meat on her bones.”

Nell froze, she knew that voice. It was Cody, a guy from her old school that ran with the ghoulies. Her heart began to race in her chest, What the hell did he want. She never recognized him at first because he was wearing normal clothes, and have black makeup smeared all over his face.

“Cody..hey” She gulped down. 

“Heard you got shot” he said stepping closer to Nell, causing her to take a few steps back.

“Is that why you’re here? I haven’t told anyone who done it” she lied. Nell had told FP a few days after it happened.

“Rue asked me to come, she wants to know if you are coming back?”

Nell pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to, but did she really have a choice? For once, she maybe did. 

Sighing she shook her head. “No, I don’t think I am.”

The guy looked slightly pissed, nobody wanted to be the one who told Rue something she didn’t want to hear. Cody pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Nell.

“A pocket knife?” She asked confused.

“Theo thought you might’ve said no, he said if you did I was to give it to you. Stay safe kid.” was all he said before disappearing into the bushes.

Nell sighed. Cody wasn’t a bad guy, he only sold drugs for the ghoulies because Penny made him. A guy like him should have been to college and have a good job, instead he was stuck in riverdale.

Reaching the trailer park, she wondered how her Fangs would react to Rue wanting her to return? She was a hard woman to say no to. Nell had made a promise to always tell Fangs the truth, regardless of how small and pointless it may seem.


	6. Chapter 6

**Fangs trailer**

He didn’t bother to knock as he shoved Fangs’ trailer door open. Sweet Pea rolled his eyes when he found Fangs sprawled across his couch, drooling and snoring. The blanket wrapped around his feet and waist, Sweet Pea is truly grateful that Fangs wasn’t sleeping naked which he usually does. It’s wasn’t going to be easy to wake him up, given how heavy of a sleeper he is, but Sweet Pea had plenty of experience dragging Fangs out of bed in the morning. “Fogarty,” he snapped, eyes glaring when his friend doesn’t react. Sweet Pea nudges his ankle again and Fangs shifts, groaning. “Wake the fuck up. We will be late if you don’t move.”

“Sweet Pea?” Fangs mumbled, squinting up at his grind with one eye. The light streaming in through the window made him groan and bury his face back in his arms. “Is this a nightmare’?” The question came out sounding like a huffy child. Sweet Pea sighs, not having the patience for being late today.

“Not yet, but it will be, if you don’t hurry up and move. FP will kill us.” Sweet pea pointed out.

Fangs huffed again and rolled away from him. “Ugh, keep it down man.” Nudging his head towards his bedroom.

Sweet Pea pursed his lips, not amused by Fangs’ lack of cooperation. “Get up, dumbass. I don’t care about whatever hussy you have been banging all night,” he snapped, ripping the blanket away from Fangs, who whined in protest and buried his face in his pillow. “Fangs we have a drop off at...”

Fangs tensed and glanced up at him. “Okay,” he said slowly as he rolled onto his back and raised his hands defensively, “before you yell at me, don’t wake the kraken up.”

Sweet Pea crossed his arms. “That doesn’t surprise me, you usually go for monsters anyway.” Fangs was already half-way to cutting him off when he heard a door crack open. Sweet Pea probably should have kept a closer eye on his surroundings. He was suddenly aware of the Fangs cousin staring at them, shaking her head. She looked incredibly rough from the night before.

“Morning.” A husky voice said from the doorway, Nell looking unimpressed as she walked into the room. “A drop off of what exactly?” She asked shooting a look at her cousin. The last thing she needed was him getting into trouble.

Fangs squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his fingers through his hair, it was only cheap car parts they had to drop off, but he didn’t want to get into it in front of Sweet pea. “Sorry, did I wake you last night? I hardly even remember coming in, what did I drink?” he muttered as he began pushing himself up, ignoring the question she had originally asked.

“Whiskey, Tequila, vodka, bleach.” Sweet Pea laughed inwardly at her comment. “And thanks for this, by the way.” She said holding a red object in her hand.

“I do remember the tequila.” Fangs groaned as he rubbed at his eyes. “What did I give you?” He said reaching his arm out.

“A whistle. Apparently if I blow it a serpent will appear.” She said rolling her eyes.

He pulled a face, “just want you to stay safe. Plus all serpents have superhero hearing, ain’t that right sweet pea?” Fangs said chuckling, he waited for a sarcastic answer back but never got one. Fangs watched the way his best friend stared at Nell. He had seen that facial expressions only a few times before...he looked unsure.

Sweet pea was fascinated, Nell must have been five foot at a push, she was a little on the thin side. He couldn’t wrap his head around the small girl in front of him being the same one who slapped Penny Peabody across the face without a second thought. Which was awesome to watch, he always hated that bitch.

He was used to just walking into Fangs trailer after a long day. His hair messy from his inability to keep his hands from fidgeting. The bags under his eyes from sleepless nights, nights full of mischief. His knuckles still bruised from knocking out whoever got into his bad books. It was the first in a long time he felt he wished he looked more presentable.

Sweet pea wanted to know more about Nell, but he didn’t want to seem so eager and arouse suspicion from Fangs. Last thing he needed was anyone to find out he had developed a crush, not that he would ever do anything about it anyway. Sweet pea was so lost in his own thoughts he almost missed her brushing past him to leave.

Nell turned to face them as she picked up her bag and jacket. “I’ll call you later Fangs. Stay out of trouble!” She pouted before leaving.

# ______

It was a little after three in the morning and the trailer was eerily quiet, when Sweet Pea slipped in through the front door. Nell didn’t notice him at first, half-asleep as she scrubbed her jumper at the sink, groaning inwardly as her shoulder stung.

“Thought I was the only one who couldn’t sleep.”

Inhaling sharply, Nell jumped at the unexpected voice. Her eyes wide with fear as she turned to view the person behind her.

Sweet Pea’s amused gaze fell quickly, when he realized he had actually frightened her. Nell’s cheeks looked flushed, and he could see the hitch in her breath. “Sorry... I thought you heard me come in. Is Fangs here?”

Nell shook her head, not able to say anything in case her voice broke. Taken in his appearance she noticed the blood on his knuckles, his split lip and puffy eyes. The blood soaked through the white top he wore underneath his leather jacket. Things become awkward quickly when they both notice they are staring at each other. The air lingered between them.

“Serpent business,” was all sweet pea said. He watched as the blue haired girl quickly got back to scrubbing some piece of clothing. A frown grew on his face, she looked like hell. Her blue hair was glued to her face with sweat, and she looked pale as a ghost.

“What drink do you have in?” Something to break the ice. Fangs had previously mentioned how nervous his cousin could be.

“Tequila.” Nell said before reaching for a clean glass, she gulped down as their fingers brushed when she gave it to him. Something about him made her even more nervous than normal.

She watched has he poured himself a drink and turned on the TV, Fangs told her his friends would occasionally drop in from time to time. Nell was confused, the guy in front of her seemed like he was two seconds away from flipping a table, or starting a brawl. But something about him seemed sweet, unless it was just his name giving that impression. The bad boy attitude, his dark hair, the neck tattoo...

“How long you staying with pointy teeth for?” He asked, while still staring at the TV.

“Eh. I don’t know yet.”That wasn’t the truth, but Nell couldn’t afford to tell anyone the truth yet. “Well, good night.”

“Wait!” Sweet pea said, sounding a little too desperate for his own liking. “Have you got any more snakes?”

Nell nodded. “Yeah, but it’s not a big deal” she shrugged.

“A few people owe me favors, I can ask them to try to find out whose doing it, if you want?” He had no idea why the fuck he was getting involved. FP and Fangs would both be pissed, they had both told him several times he was better off minding his own business when it came to Nell.

“You don’t need to do that, but thanks for asking.” smiled weakly before heading to bed, leaving the handsome snake alone.

# ______

When sweet pea woke the next morning, he was surprised to smell fresh bacon.

“Morning?” he groaned sitting up, he must have fallen asleep waiting on Fangs returning.

He sat up to see Nell cooking in the kitchen, as Fangs put out plates. He gave his friend a quizzical look, he didn’t understand why she was cooking for them. It was nice, but he didn’t understand why.

“Nell has a habit of over feeding people.” Fangs said with a chuckle.

Sweet pea raised his eyebrows surprised. The blue haired girl look like she hardly ate herself, he found it hard to believe she over feed other. Shrugging he took a bite of bacon while he sat down, it tasted amazing.

He spent the rest of the morning talking to Fangs and Nell by the small table in the kitchen, something he hadn’t done in a long time. The kitchen table was only ever used for beer pong.

**Whyte wyrm**

“So what’s the deal with your cousin cooking all the time?” Toni asked, sliding Fangs and sweet pea their drinks. 

Fangs shrugged. “She likes cooking, lots of people do.”

Toni gave him a skeptical look, before going back to serving others. She wanted to get to know Nell a better, but she always asked shifty whenever the pink haired serpent asked her something, and Fangs would just give her blunt answers. Maybe Jughead was right about her, she was definitely hiding something.

“What is the deal with it?” Sweet pea asked curious.

Fangs sighed, before taking another swig of his drink. “It’s a habit, Nell used to do loads of cooking all the time for her brother...and his _friends_. She said a lot of them were good kids, who just got drawn in. They had no food, no home, no family and Rue lured them all in. A bit like Gladys really..but don’t tell any Joans I said that.”

Sweet pea nodded understanding. Fangs had previously explained to him how Theo ran with the ghoulies, and how Nell was trying to escape that life. He said Nell was never in the gang, and she was the one who called the police on them. Fangs cousin definitely seemed like an interesting person.


	7. Chapter 7

**Somewhere unknown...**

The forest had claws and teeth, as the rain lashed down all around it.

All the rocks, thorns and branches all bite at Nell as if they were trying to drag her down, she was running as if the devil himself was chasing her. She never stopped once to look back. Even when the small stones dug into her feet causing them to bleed, or the thin branches slapped her in the face, causing blood to run down her cheek.

Nell was confused, at night everything looked the same and it was easy to get lost. She couldn’t hear anything over her own breathing. Her eyes stung with tears she thought to hold back. She would need to rest eventually, but couldn’t stop, she couldn’t let them get her. Plus the ground was becoming increasingly soggy, making it harder to run.

Nell froze she saw a small light in the distance, was she near a road? A house? She ran towards it fast as she could but came to halt when a figure appeared. She almost ran away when the figure started coming closer. Something changed though, the feeling of fear lifted...only for a moment. The loud yells and howls of the ghoulies became closer. Nell stepped up from the bush she was hiding from, she slowly stepped forward, trying her best not to make any noise.

“Jughead?” She asked cautiously. 

Why would he...right he was still following her, Nell rolled her eyes as she stopped closer to him. 

**Fangs trailer**

“Fuck fuck fuck” Fangs said will slamming his phone onto the counter.

“What’s going on?” Sweet pea asked as he entered the trailer, he could hear Fangs swearing and ranting from outside.

“Nell, she's missing. I need to find her before she does something stupid.” He explained, before letting out a sigh of frustration, knowing where his cousin would have gone.

“Fangs, what’s going on?” Sweet pea asked sitting down on the couch. 

He knew something had been up for a few weeks, him and Fangs never usually kept secrets from each other. So whatever it was, must have been bad. The taller serpent wasn’t also aware that FP must have been in on whatever was going on as well.

Fangs clenched his teeth. “Nell has gone looking for her brother, who’s a fucking ghoulie. She’s going to get herself killed.”

It took a lot to shock sweet pea, but that did it. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“She thinks she can change his mind, but Theo is so far gone that he couldn’t come back from it. Her mother is high up in the ghoulies as well, god knows what she will do to Nell if she finds her.” Fangs had every right to be panicked, his cousin was being reckless.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Sweet pea asked, he wouldn’t have judged.

Nell was technically a serpent by blood anyway, they would always have her back. Plus she seemed like a nice girl, and was a good influence on Fangs, most of the time.

“FP told me not to tell anyone” Fangs shrugged, he had more to explain but this wasn’t the time. “Shit I better get moving, she will freeze to death out there.” Fangs said pointing towards the window.

“Okay, where do we start looking?” Sweet pea asked, following Fangs out the trailer. 

**Junkyard**

He stopped the car in an abandoned junkyard, one his mother used to own. Jughead sighed as he tried to figure out what to do. He had potentially just rescued someone from being attacked, or landed in the middle of another gangs business. Regardless Nell had questions she needed to answer. He had been curious about her for some time, when she turned up things changed. His dad and Fangs always acted strange whenever he mentioned her, he had also heard that she had sweet pea asking questions for her.

“Thank you”, Nell said In almost a whisper. “You didn’t need to help me.”

Jughead said nothing, just nodded. She looked like hell. Her blue hair was almost stained red, she was covered head to toe on blood. Even in the dark he could see the bruising started to appear on her jaw and the swelling in her top lip. Plus her clothes were soaked, which was why he made her sit in the back seat of the car.

“Do you owe money to any gangs? Trouble with loans, or drugs?” He asked.

“Of course not, fuck you.” Nell answered horrified.

Surly he wasn’t implying she looked like a drug user or seller. It wouldn’t have been the first time she was told that, her pale complexion and skinny body gave off the wrong idea. However, she was looking a lot healthier than when she first arrived, so the comment was a kick in the teeth.

“Has this got anything to do with Penny and your brother she asked about?” Jughead asked, while never taking his eyes off the road.

“Fuck you!” Nell practically hissed. Her family was a sore subject, and not one she cared to talk about.

“Are you a part of the ghoulies?” Nell’s silence was all the answer he needed. “Why should I help you? If all you are doing is screwing us over?”

Once again Nell said nothing. Who was this prick? How dare he questioned her, he knew nothing about her or her family.

Jughead was furious. He was about to tell her to get out and walk back to Riverdale for all he cared, except he wasn’t sure they would even make it in a car. The rain was getting heavier, and the back roads were starting to flood. The noise of a motorbike caught his attention. He looked back to see Nell with tears forming in her eyes, she was scared. 

Sighing he gulped down, “the door to the garage isn’t locked, run inside and stay there until I come get you.”

Nell didn’t hesitate. Usually she wouldn’t have done what he had told her, but this was a desperate situation.

# ______

Time seemed to pass incredibly slow. What if they attacked Jughead? What if he took off and left her? She wouldn’t blame him if he did, he owed her nothing. Nell could feel the tightening in her chest. She slid down against the wall, not knowing what else to do she started to cry. Every emotion she had been feeling for months had come out at once.

Jughead shifted uncomfortably as he entered the garage, he could hear Nell crying from outside. They were lucky it wasn’t Malachai and his crew of crooks, otherwise they would have heard her. He cleared his throat a couple of times before Nell noticed he was in the room with her. What was his plan now? Jughead Jones was a man on a mission to find out who the hell this girl was, and what made her so special. She must be with so much attention on her, and what the dead snakes and pigs had to do with her turning up.

“There’s a shower in the back if you want, the water might not be that warm though.” Jughead said before quickly disappearing.

Nell made her way towards the bathroom. She stood in the lukewarm shower watching the blood and dirt swirl down the drain, wishing she could disappear with it. The blisters on her feet nipped, as did her cuts and scrapes. How did everything get so complicated? A year ago she had a life, she had a business of her own. A father and brother who she loved dearly, now she had lost them both. Now she was left on her own, while being hunted from the ghoulies. She still had Fangs, but she loved him too much to drag him into her mess.

When Nell came out a shower there was a knock on the door. She opened it a tiny bit to see Jughead standing, holding a bag in his hands. 

“These will probably not fit, but lest they are clean.” Jughead looked at the ground as he spoke to her, he was completely aware she had nothing on except a towel.

“Uh thank you”, She accepted the bag of clothes. 

Once she was alone Nell rummaged through it, she put on a pair of men’s shorts and white t-shirt that was longer on her than the shorts. She left the bathroom to find Jughead setting up two makeshift beds. “What are you doing?”

He smirked up at her. “Well we can’t leave yet, have you looked outside? Besides, I’m sure we have both slept in worse places.”

Nell didn’t understand his snide comment, but she didn’t ask about it either. “Holy shit” she muttered looking out the window, it was dark, but she could still see the wild storm outside. It would be far too dangerous to drive in weather like that, great. She would be stuck here all night.

Jughead threw down a pillow on the ‘beds’ and scoffed, staring down at his handy work. He had flung sleeping bags and pillows on top of two mattresses that had been left, not that he didn’t already know that. He had slept there more than once since his break up with Betty, he used it as his place to escape. 

“No man left behind” he shrugged, “plus I’m going to offer you a deal.” Jughead said sitting down on the bed closest to the door. He mentally kicked himself because of the draft form under the door, but he would feel worse if she got sick because of it.

Nell nodded, sitting down slowly still in a lot of pain. 

He lifted a first aid box “I will help you, if you tell me what the hell is going on.” Nell bit her lip, she was thinking about it. He needed some way to get her to talk. “Or I’ll just snitch and tell Fangs where you are” he said in a joking tone. He regretted saying those words soon as he saw the anger in Nell’s eyes. He felt guilty, but it was just a joke.

“Ok, I’ll tell you.” Nell sighed, she would probably live to regret this “long as you stop following me everywhere.”

Jughead face began to blush, he was embarrassed that she knew. Truthfully, he was disappointed he hadn’t found any dirt on her yet. It was very unlikely she didn’t have any, everybody had something to hide from. 

**Fangs trailer**

_“I’ve just spoken to Jones, he’s not seen her either.”_

“Fuck! I have no idea where she could be. That bastard better not have touched her.” Fangs said through gritted teeth.

_“She’s a smart girl Fogarty, I’m sure she wouldn’t have put herself into a bad situation.”_

Fangs sighed, Sweet pea had no idea how dangerous this could be for his cousin. 

“Her ex...he’s a psychotic ghoulie. He was horrible to her, he makes Kurtz look normal.” Fangs explained.

Sweet pea gulped down. There was a heavy storm brewing outside, she would probably freeze to death if nobody found her. And he strangely seemed to care a lot of she was okay or not.

_“We’ll find her Fangs.”_

**Junkyard**

“So you expect me to believe your father, Eddie Emerson sold jingle jangle on the side? For the ghoulies? I don’t believe it.” Jughead gave her a look of disgust, surly she wasn’t lying? But Eddie was a stand up man, he hated any kind of drugs, he’ll he didn’t even drink.

Nell let out a loud noise of frustration. “You aren’t listening to me! You keep cutting me off before I can explain anything. Are you always like this?” She asked pouting.

“No, you just aren’t making any sense.” He shot back. 

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Nell let out a sigh of defeat.

“Fine I’ll start again, and please don’t interrupting me. My dad sold jingle jangle to keep me and my brother safe.” Jughead went to speak, but stopped when he saw the glare in her green eyes. He knew interrupting her now might be a bad idea. “He sold it at the request of Rue.”

Jughead’s jaw dropped. “Rue? As In batshit crazy Rue? As in the women who literally runs the ghoulies now, why would he... Rue Martine.”

Nell hated the look he was giving her as the penny dropped. “Yip. So snake father, ghoulies mother. Me and Theo just got stuck in a middle”.

Jughead nodded for her to go on, he was sympathetic of having a mother who was a drug pusher.

“My dad knows, doesn’t he.” It was more a statement than a question, truthfully he was hurt his father never trusted him with the information.

Nell nodded. “yeah he did, and he’s helping me now. My mum has been trying to force us to join for years, Theo caved...but I..I didn’t.. But with my dad dead.”

“She needs someone to continue selling the drugs?”

The blue haired girl nodded. “I don’t sell them directly, I refused... but she began using the shop I partly owned, then word spread I was a ghoulie and I had to sell my half for very little. They just use it as it drug den now.” She leaned forward pressing her forehead into her hands. “I owned beauticians in Greendale along with another woman, and Rue begged me to take on one of the younger girls Stephanie as my receptionist, claiming she just wanted to make enough money to leave town.”

“What happened?” He was intrigued, this girl had been seriously fucked over, or she was a good liar.

“Like I said, I lost all my clients, and when I tried to stop them they trashed the place. I was cleaning up one night when I heard them talking about the shootings. My mom... Rue put them up to it, so I phoned the police, but they know it was me.” Nell explained.

Jughead watched has she pulled a bobble off her wrist and tied her hair up, a strange thing occurred to him. She was incredibly calm, for someone whose mother was after him. 

He cleared his throat. “Fangs has always known, hasn’t he?”

Nell nodded. “Don’t be mad at him, he done it for his family. I don’t mean to push my luck, but I’d rather you didn’t tell anyone else what I told you. Rue still doesn’t know where I am yet.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, sure whatever.”

“You not going to ask me anything else?” Nell looked at him, she knew he was desperate to ask. 

She wasn’t as stupid as Jughead thought. They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments. He was at a loss, as to why his dad had kept all these things from him. His internal dialog was interrupted by Nell. “I know you have been...curious for a while, I was going to say something before but never knew how. I mean I get it, you don’t like not knowing what’s going.” Nell shrugged.

“Do you any idea who is planting dead skinned snakes?” Jughead asked raising an eyebrow.

“No. I really don’t, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. From what sweet pea has told me, you always do.”

That comment bothered him. Fucking sweet pea. They had never really seen eye to eye, but ever since sweet pea slept with Betty behind his back, Jughead had hated him.

“Can I ask you something?” Nell asked, interrupting is trail of thought again. He nodded, “What the deal with you and the serpents? There is a strange atmosphere.”/p>

Jughead flopped backwards groaning into his hands. “It’s that obvious huh?” He sat back up again, “My ex-girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend, she was my serpent queen.. So when that went to shit a lot of the others lost faith in me when I stupidly took her back.”

Nell just nodded, she got it. Relationships could be tricky, she had lost count of how many times her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her. The sad part was she didn’t mind him cheating, it meant he wasn’t around her for a few hours.

“Toni disliked her anyway and always warned me about her, everybody did. She’s from the Northside and I’m from the south, it would never have worked. I did try for a long time though.” Jughead explained.

“Why did you finally break up? If you don’t mind me asking, what changed?” Nell asked sympathetic.

“The final nail in the coffin? We had a falling out, and the next morning I seen her leave sweet pea's trailer. I asked her about it, and she lied about ever being there.” Jughead flopped back onto the mattress again.

Jughead and Nell had more in common than they released, including usually keeping their cards close to their chest. During the night they both heard roaring and yelling of what Nell suspected was the ghoulies, looking for trouble. They both made small talk until they fell asleep.

The morning quickly came, with them both agreeing to not talk about the conversation they shared the night before.


	8. Chapter 8

**FP’s office**

“Sweet pea just spoke to Jughead, and he hasn’t seen her either.” Fangs said worried.

FP sighed rubbing his eyes, he needed a moment to think. Sure he was the Sheriff of Riverdale, but he couldn’t just arrest all the ghoulies, without real evidence of them committing a crime, Penny would have a field day with them. 

“I’m going to send officers out to look for her soon. We can’t risk the other serpents knowing who she is related to just yet, they will either accept her or turn on her.” It was most likely the latter, both Fangs and FP knew that.

Fangs nodded, the only other person who he had told was sweet pea. Most people wouldn’t understand why he was so worried, but Rue wasn’t a normal mum. She wasn’t loving or caring, she wanted to use her children as pawns in her twisted games, if they found out where Nell was, and that she didn’t have any real serpent protection she would be in danger.

“Listen”, FP said as he was heading for the door “you and sweet pea continue looking for her, I’ll do my best on my end. If she’s not back soon, then we will tell the others.”

Fangs stood in his office frustrated. He didn’t even know where his cousin might be, it was also strange for him to be this overprotected. He would do anything for Nell, and he hoped it was vice versa.

**Fangs trailer**

“Where the hell have you been?” Fangs shouted soon as she entered his trailer.

He was surprised to see his cousin rapidly shoving clothes into a bag. His anger towards her almost combust when he saw the bruises on her face.

“It’s fine, honestly. I’m sorry I didn’t call I lost my phone”, she said turning to face him. 

She felt incredibly guilty, for making him worried, Nell knew how stupid it was going looking for her brother alone. But he had text her saying he needed help, and never showed.

Fangs walked over to the freezer and pulled out a bag of ice, her left side was beginning to swell. He noticed dried blood on the top she was wearing.

“Fangs I think I should go, the ghoulies will come here looking for me, and I don’t want to bring any trouble.” She said apologetically.

“No.” He snapped, knowing full well what she was about to say.

“Fangs I...”

“I said no Nell, you are under serpent protection. Plus you are the only blood family I have left”, he pulled her in for a hug, when he felt her whine in pain. “Don’t ever do that to me again” he mumbled, “and from now on, you aren’t leaving my sight. I mean it.”

“It’s not safe for you if I’m here.” Nell said as warm tears fell down her face. “I’ve already lost Theo, and my dad. I couldn’t stand it if I lost you too.”

Fangs pulled her in tighter, “I promise, me and you will both be safe.”

From the doorway Sweet Pea watched the exchange. He was happy for Fangs, but he also felt a little jealous of him having that connection to family. He slowly closed the door with a sad smile, he didn’t want to intrude.

# ______

“I’m sorry for keeping you worried. It just got out of hand so fast I...” She said sighing, Nell sipped on her beer as she sat across from Fangs at the small patio table outside his trailer.

“What the hell happened? FP almost put out a report saying you were a missing person, and why didn’t you answer your phone?” Fangs asked, with an unimpressed look on his face. 

After them both getting some sleep, Fangs had awoken up fully pissed. He needed to know what exactly happened, if Nell did bring any trouble it would be on them both. Not that he cared about getting into trouble, he just needed to know what to accept.

“I don’t know what got into me.. Just when he messaged me saying he needed help. I thought it was for real. I know it sounds stupid” she said sighing. Nell swallowed thickly. “I thought it was going to be fine, you know? Our dad dying seemed to give him some clarity— then he found out about what happened that night with Ezra and...” She trailed off briefly.

Fangs went still. She wasn’t speaking in full sentences, but he understands. He had heard through various people that Theo had broken Nell’s ex-boyfriends jaw, and smashed in his ex socket. Of course with Rue being his mom nothing happened to him.

“Theo was never violent before that, sure he had a few heated arguments and sold some weed..but he was always still good”. Nell exhaled deeply. “It would have been fine if penny hadn’t seen me,” she stressed.

“I should have gone with you—”

“No,” she cut him off immediately, with an almost shocked look on her face. “It wouldn’t have let you come, it was far too stupid and dangerous.”

His brows furrow in confusion that quickly melts into realization, she just wants to keep him safe as well. Nodding, he motioned for her to continue. Neither of them were used to having family to rely on, it would take time for both of them to get used to it again.

“Soon as penny saw me I began to run back to my car, but I then seen some ghoulies walking towards it so bolted the other way. I was running away when my hair got caught in a fence, I tripped and fell and banged my head. I stayed at a junkyard all night, until I thought it was safe to leave.”

Fangs shook his head. “I’m supposed to protect you,” he reminded her, “before you came back I promised your dad I’d always look after you—and you got hurt.” His throat tightened as the words cut off.

“Hey, look at me.” Nell said reaching for his hand, “I’m right here,” she tells him. “I’m not going anywhere, besides we promised we would always look after each other when we were kids, right?”

Fangs just nodded. “I suppose we better start cleaning it soon” he said gesturing towards the motorbike sitting outside his trailer.

Nell nodded as she finished the last of her beer, Sweets peas bike got covered in mud while he was looking for her. Nell offered to clean it for him numerous times as a way of saying thank you, he eventually reluctantly agreed, but only because Fangs said it was the only thing that would make her stop apologizing.

Fangs was glad his cousin and best friend were getting along, but he was pretty sure Nell had a crush on Sweet pea. 

He just hoped she knew nothing would ever happen between them, Sweet pea wasn’t known for being committed to one person.

He shrugged the thought of laughing when Nell flung a damp sponge at him. Fangs was imaging it, he was sure his cousin was just being nice to his friends and trying to make an effort.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sweet peas trailer**

He was mortified. Never in his life had he felt this type of embarrassment before.

Sweet pea had cum early.

He had brought back some girl he had meet at a bar, she was okay. Her name was Alice, and she had brown hair, and talked way too much. She had only put her hand down his pants, and he came within minutes.

She laughed at him, she actually laughed at him. The drunken tart wasn’t even that attractive. As she wrapped her hand around him, he started to picture Nell. How it would feel if it was her hand instead. How soft her lips feel against his, or around his...

Opening his eyes again he flopped back onto his mattress. Tonight was a knee low for him. He felt incredibly guilty, Nell was Fangs cousin and his new friend? They were friendly enough. Apart from Toni he didn’t have any friends that were girls. Maybe he could try and make more of an effort to be friends with her. 

**Fangs trailer**

A few weeks later Nell realized Fangs really did mean it, she went almost every day. They had breakfast together every morning, and Nell began going to the wyrm more to try to get to know the other serpents. She managed to get a part-time job in a bar on the Northside of town, Fangs wasn’t happy about it at first, but she reasoned with him that she needed the money. Himself and FP have both warned her about how her association with the serpents will make things harder for her.

Friday night came around fast, as Nell was watching some cheesy romance film inside her cousins Trailer. Nell was currently sitting on a two-seater next to Sweet pea, who had hardly said a word all night. While Toni sat on the floor next to another girl, Nell wasn’t sure who she was but picked up her name was Paige. Jughead was sitting on a chair practically on the other side of the room, the tension between him and sweet pea was extremely awkward.

Fangs came bursting back into the room with a big bowel of popcorn, he shoved Nell further over. She was now squeezed in between her cousin and sweet pea, she tried to not let her nerves show as her shoulder was rubbing against sweet pea. 

Half-way through the film she felt hot breath in her ear, it gave her goosebumps. “Get fed up with the color blue?”

Sweet peas mouth was centimeters away from her own, as she turned around to face him. He was referring to her new hairstyle. She had decided to ditch the long blue hair, and go back to her natural blonde locks and got her hair cut to just above her shoulders. Mostly just to get the blood out of it, from when she hit her head, but she needed the change anyway.

Nell smiled. “Yeah, I just wanted a change” she whispered, not wanting to interrupt the film.

“You suit it”, was all he said before leaning back into a more comfortable position.

Nell wasn’t sure why but Sweet pea giving her a compliment made her stomach feel funny. She was a bit old to have a crush, but she definitely had one on the tall, loud, handsome serpent sitting next to her.

# ______

After the film had ended everyone went home apart from sweet pea, who stayed and had a few beers with them. When Nell went outside for a smoke, he joined her.

“So did you hear about Topaz?” He asked in a low voice.

Nell shook her head. She knew something was up because the pinked haired girl was extremely quiet, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask in a room full of people, and she never saw Toni on her own the whole night.

“Toni and her new girlfriend both got skinned snakes delivered to them. It’s so fucking bizarre. That’s Topaz, both Jones men, me, you and Fangs all got a box of skinned snakes. Not to mention all the places we hang out have got them.”

Nell listened to sweet pea as he changed to subject, and started talking about motorbikes. She nodded while trying to rack her brain who could be doing this. Hurting animals never fazed the ghoulies, but it seemed like too much effort. She had this feeling this wasn’t about her, and it was something more directed at other serpents. 

**Northside bar**

“Great, just what this town needs. Another mindless Southside slut, who is willing to drop to her knees for any thug in leather” some random guy slurred.

Nell rolled her eyes, she could now see why Fangs and FP warned her about getting a job on the Northside. Some stupid young jocks had stopped by hoping to get served underage, once she had told them ‘no’ a word Nell assumed the spoiled teens had never heard before, they began throwing insults at her. She had tried to throw them out, but the manger said they could stay long as they didn’t cause any more problems. 

All night she had to sit and listen to insults, while watching them pricks harass any other female that entered the building. Sighing she tied up the bin bags before heading outside, Nell had been clock watching all night as her shift was going painfully slow.

It was freezing outside, she rushed towards the bins wanting to get back inside soon as possible. Nell jumped when heard someone behind her.

“Trash belongs with trash”, one of the guys from the bar sneered at her.

Nell turned around to see he had followed her, “What the fuck do you want?” She hissed at him. 

Truthfully she didn’t feel comfortable, she was standing in a backstreet herself with the boy blocking her only way back inside. He was a lot bigger than her, and she wasn’t a good fighter. Not wanting to show any fear Nell crossed her arms as she wore a pissed off look, he would hopefully get bored and piss off, if she didn’t rise to his comments.

The guy just stood staring at her, she watched as his pupils seemed to be extremely wide, and his jaw was swinging. Yup, he was definitely on something other than alcohol. 

She began to walk past him towards the door, when he grabbed her wrist. “Oh no no. We are going to have some out here first!” He slurred with a wicked grin.

“Let go of me!” Nell yelled snapping her wrist back.

“Is it true the ghoulies wouldn’t fuck you anymore, that’s why you came to chase some serpent dick? Do they take turns fucking you at once or do you take them all at the same time?” the guy smirked as Nell tried to pull away, “I personally prefer a girl with more meat on her bones, but I can...” he said licking his lips. He was about to talk again when he was swiftly cut off by Nell stamping on his foot, and shoving him backwards, he chuckled darkly. “You will regret that you fucking whore...” the guy suddenly stopped talking, as he looked over her shoulder.

Nell’s eyes went wide as she felt someone's hand on her waist, gently moving her to the side before their fist was swinging back, decking the boys face so fast it caused him to stumble and fall on his ass. Sweet pea shook his fist out, glaring as he bent down, gripping onto the boys collar and briskly lifting him up, their faces inches apart.

“You ever speak to her like that again, I will fucking end you. Do you understand?” He asked slowly, his voice gruff as he eyed the blood dripping from the boys lip. “Now get the fuck out of here, and don’t come back.”

Once sweet pea let go, the boy scoffed, wiping the blood off his face before heading inside. He turned to face Nell who was brushing blonde strands of hair out of her face, she looked a little shaken. Not that he was surprised.

Nell looked up at him, “thanks... I..thank you. What are you doing here?”

Sweet pea shrugged nonchalant. “You weren’t behind the bar, so I went looking for you. Do you need a ride back tonight? Fangs filled me in on your car situation.”

Nell shook her head. “Oh, I’ll get the bus, I don’t finish for another two hours. Thanks for the offer though.”

Sweet pea looked at her with an amused grin, “then I’ll be back in two hours to pick you up.” He said, before holding the door open for her. 

The way Nell smiled at him, made him feel a tightness in his chest that he had never felt before.

She had started to look so much better in the short time he had known her. The bags under her eyes weren’t as noticeable, her skin seemed a little more pink as well. Her blonde hair suited her better as well. He followed her inside, and waited at a nearby table for her to finish. It might have been seen as slightly creepy, but he just wanted to make sure that Nell got back safe. 

**Fangs trailer**

“Hey man, you want some?” Fangs asked offering his friend a plate.

Sweet pea nodded before accepting it. He could smell the food before he entered, there was no way he was saying no to something that smelled so good.

“Nell made this fest of a breakfast before she left for work.” Fangs explained. 

There was a selection of different fruit, bacon, pancakes, and waffles made. The girl didn’t know when to stop cooking.

“What do you do with all the rest?” Sweet pea asked, he didn’t believe they all ate it all. They weren’t all built like Jughead, and could eat anything they want.

Fangs spoke quietly. “She takes it to some food bank in Greendale. Nell told me about what happened last night, I’m glad you were there.”

Sweet pea felt a slight blush on his face, he might have been paranoid but by the tone in Fangs voice he could have sworn his friend was pissed off at him.

“Can I ask you something?” Fangs said still looking at the food in front of him.

The atmosphere in the room seemed slightly tense. Sweet pea gulped down before nodding.

“What do you think of my cousin? Do you think she’d make a good serpent?” Fangs asked.

Sweet pea felt like he could breathe again. It had nothing to do with him. “She’s a nice girl, helps out at food banks.”

“Hm. That’s the problem, I think she might be too nice for the serpent life” Fangs sighed. 

Fangs wasn’t sure if it was the best place for his cousin, he wanted Nell to be close. But he wanted her to join the serpents, but it was probably more for selfish reasons than anything else.


	10. Chapter 10

**Fangs trailer**

“Wait did that really happen?” Nell asked laughing before noticing another figure entering the room. 

Sweet Pea smiled taking in the scene in front of him, he hadn’t seen Fangs this happy in a long time, he was currently trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard. Sweet pea crossed his arms as he leaned against the door frame looking at his phone, he had news that Fangs wouldn’t want to hear. But he didn’t want to interrupt them.

“Jones got himself suspended 'cause he didn't want to take off the jacket. The rest of us got detention.” Fangs explained.

Nell couldn't help but roll her eyes, while laughing. She had been away from Riverdale for so long, she truly had no idea how crazy one small town could be. The last time she came to Riverdale before her father’s death, was when Fangs got shot. But the only person she spoke to was her cousin, and FP briefly.

Sweet pea noticed the way Nell’s face lit up at the story, he also noticed the funny look Fangs was giving her.

“I could believe Jughead would be that stubborn”, she laughed.

“You know him well?” Fangs glanced up from his bowel of cereal to see Nell shrugging. Something was up with Sweet pea he was sulking more than usual, but he would find out later.

“Yeah, sort of. He walks back with me from work a lot. He always struck me as someone who, wanted everyone to notice how much he didn't fit in.” Nell went back to her breakfast.

Sweet Pea stared at her for a minute, he was screwing up his face without realizing he was doing. She seemed to have a pretty good idea who Jones was, but it slightly stung a little that they were friends. He didn’t know why, but he felt slightly jealous of them being friends.

“Isn’t it time you headed off to work?” Fangs asked Nell casually, while shooting a look at his friend.

Nell looked at her watch before jumping up, and grabbing her bag, “Yeah it is, cya both later.”

When Nell was out of ear-reach Fangs turned to face his friend. For a moment sweet pea felt nervous again at the look Fangs was giving him, he looked troubled. 

“Dude, What the hell is going on with you?” Fangs finally asked.

Sweet pea shrugged, “it’s nothing.” 

He had driven to where Nell’s car was abandoned in hopes of bringing it back for her, except it was completely wrecked. It had been stripped for parts, and set on fire. The surrounding road was spray painted with ‘serpent whore’ multiple times.

“If I’m not around I need you to keep an eye on Nell. I know it’s a big ask, but she’s more fragile than she seems, and I need someone to just help her out if she gets into trouble.” Fangs asked looking at his friend.

“Yeah, sure. Anything for you man.” Sweet pea replied smacking Fangs arm. “I think Jones has a crush on her” he added, and laughed at the look of disgust he received.

“Jones doesn’t have a shot with her, she could do better than someone hung up on their ex anyway.” Fangs said before rummaging the fridge for more food.

Sweet pea’s face fell. Yeah, Nell could probably do better than Jughead Jones, it any other serpents for that matter. Including himself.

**Northside bar**

Jughead knew he had a problem, ever since seeing Nell again he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Not romantically, but he had started care about her as a friend, and he was growing worried about her. The ghoulies had started circling, they needed a plan to help her.

He also had Betty in his ear, but things weren’t the best between them at the moment. She claimed Jughead was being difficult, but truthfully he had just stopped caring the same way. Betty had asked him a few times about his friendship with Nell, and got annoyed when he didn’t tell her anything. She was just asking to be nice, but he wasn’t going to gossip about his gang. Nell wasn’t officially a serpent, but he classed her as one.

He frowned looking at his phone, she was running late. It wasn’t Nell’s fault, her boss always gave her something else to do right before she finished. He hoped she would get a new job soon. Fangs had filled him on the guys from the Northside hassling her, he was surprised to hear Sweet pea was her knight in shinning armor.

“Hey, thanks for waiting.” Nell said joining him in the street.

Nell enjoy walking home with Jughead, they liked the same type of films and books, so they always had something to talk about. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Fangs trailer come into view, and she could see Sweet pea bike when they reached the trailer park.

“Why is Sweet pea at the trailer when Fangs isn’t home?” Jughead asks bluntly.

“Well, sometimes we just hang out. It’s no big deal.” Nell answered, noticing Jughead screwing his face up. 

Nell wasn’t lying though, ever since the night he had punched the guy from the bar they had become more friendly with each other.

“Really? You just hang out with him? Cause you guys are such good friends?” He retorts.

“Jug, not all of us have trust issues like you,” she told him.

Jughead stopped in his tracks, as she turned to look at him. He looked like he’s just gotten hit on the head. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that last one? Because it almost sounded like you said I have trust issue.”

Nell rolled her eyes “bye Jughead.” Nell said walking into the trailer, smiling as he walked away laughing slightly.

“Does he not want my company, or something?” Sweet pea pouted. Jones really had a bug up his ass about him, and it was really starting to piss him off.

“Not as much as mine”, she shot back with an innocent smile.

After jumping into a quick shower, Nell changed into a pair of black shorts and a baggy black top, with red sculls printed on it, since she had started to gain weight her clothes seemed to fit her a lot better. She walked back into the living room to find sweet pea still sitting in the same spot, he had a concerned look on his face.

His eyes glanced over her figure, surly she had an idea how amazing her ass looked in them shorts...he shook his head, this was Fangs cousins and his _friend_. He watched the way her hips swayed as she grabbed two beers from the fridge, handing him one before settling on the couch and turning on the TV.

He cleared his throat, “can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, of course” she smiled.

“Jughead, is anything going on between you too?” he asked, watching as her face changed.

“No way, we are just friends” she said shaking her head. “We became friends ever since we stayed in some building his mom used to own”.

“When was this?” He asked pouting.

“The night the ghoulies were looking for me” Nell said scoffing at the memory, “the road had started to flood that night, so we needed to stay until it calmed down.”

Anger washed over Sweet pea. “You went to the old junkyard with Jughead? You were there with him?” he asked standing up.

Nell was taken aback by his sudden aggressive attitude. “Yeah, why?”

Sweet pea didn’t mean to move so close to her, he was now looking directly down at her. “Did you know I was outside looking for you?” He asked, mentally kicking himself for feeling hurt for some reason.

Nell never took her eyes off him as she spoke. “No, I didn’t even know you where there.”

Sweet pea didn’t realize how close to her he had moved, his lips were dangerously close to hers. For a moment he thought about leaning down and kissing Nell. But he would need to ask her first, and that would just become awkward. Plus, he could see the hurt in her eyes.

“Why the fuck would he lie to me?“ Nell asked, knowing Sweet pea couldn’t possibly answer for her.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Jones can be a dick when he wants to be” he fumed, Sweet pea knew it was more about him than Nell. “Let’s just watch the rest of this movie.” Sweet pea said shaking his head, he would deal with Jones later.

He put his arm around Nell’s shoulder to comfort her, when she sat down next to him. That’s what friends do, right? They comforted each other. 

**Whyte wyrm**

Fangs was pissed. Jones was known to be a dick at times, but lying to Sweet peas face about knowing where Nell was that night was extremely twisted.

“Fangs I’m sorry alright” Jughead shrugged, “in my defensive I thought I was helping Nell.”

“How so?” Fangs thought it was best he spoke to Jughead alone. Both Sweet pea and Nell were still pissed off at him.

“Come on, you not noticed the tension between Nell and Sweet pea?” Jughead asked. 

Fangs shook his head before finishing his beer, “no way.” 

“Really? I get you two have a ‘legendary bromance” Jughead said in a mocking tone, “but can you honestly tell me Nell wouldn’t just become another notch on his bedpost? I’m not saying it to be harsh. She’s a lovely girl, but all nice girls fall for his act.”

Sighing Fangs rolled his eyes, the only atmosphere her sensed was between Jughead himself and Sweet pea. He had it in his head that Sweet pea had slept with Betty, which he didn’t. There was no point in telling Jones that though, he never listened to them.

“He wouldn’t do that” Fangs said, he shot Jughead a look telling him to back off.

The subject was quickly changed and the previous conversation was forgotten. Except it wasn’t, Fangs began thinking about it. His friend did have an interested in his cousin, but he just assumed it was because of him. It was a subject that would bother him until he asked him directly.


	11. Chapter 11

**Fangs trailer**

“So, how does this work exactly?” Sweet pea frowned as he dropped onto the couch. “Do we have to watch the whole game if we hate it?” he pouted.

“No, of course not.” The blonde giggling, while she walked into the seating area, carrying two beers in one hand and a pizza box in the other. “I'd suggest, since neither you nor I have any idea about baseball, that we both choose a team, and wing it.”

“I don't know if winging it is the right thing, but okay.” Sweet pea leaned back and took a sip of his beer, it had been a long week. Numbers within the serpents was dwindling, a chill night in was exactly what he needed.

“You are the one who said you wanted a boring weekend” she pointed out. “How come you didn’t want to go out?”

Nell was curious as sweet pea kept making comments about how he needed to turn his life around, and needed a normal routine.

“I don't have to behave like an animal all the time just because I’m a snake right ?” He frowned.

“If you want, next time we can skip the conversation and I can record the Golf instead.” She gave him blank look, which at which Sweet pea shook his head at, trying not to smile at her bleakness. He enjoyed the fact Nell wasn't shy around him anymore, usually people found him intimidating.

“Okay,” Nell took out the list she had printed out from Wikipedia and handed it to Sweet pea. “These are the teams. Pick one.”

Sweet pea had a look at the list. He shook his head, again. “I think I need another beer before I make a decision”. He got up and headed to grab another beer “Just like boring people do.”

“Just like normal people do,” she replied laughing, before answering her phone. “Oh, Fangs is calling. I'm going to ask him if he has any idea how any of it works”. She answered with an amused tone “Hey Fangs..one second I can hardly hear you. I’ll be back in a moment sweets.” Nell said before stepping outside the trailer.

Sweet pea couldn’t help the smile tugging at the edge of his lips when he opened the fridge door. It was the first time he had ever seen real food inside it, him and Fangs almost forgot what a vegetable looked like until his cousin moved in. Admittedly he wasn’t to keen on the new addition to his friends life at first, but Nell had really grown on him. They had begun hanging out more since Fangs had gone out of town for “serpent business.” ‘ _Normal life_ ,' he thought, what a crazy idea. Grinning he took two bottles out of the fridge, Nell would surely want another one.

He turned back into the TV area, where he found her sitting on the couch with her head lowered, sobbing lightly. “Nell?”

“Theo,” Nell said in a whisper.

He sat next to her, leaving the two bottles on the table. He put his hand on her good shoulder.

“What's wrong? Is your brother okay?” He asked sitting down next to her.

Nell shook her head.

“Him and some other ghoulies got into trouble and.” She closed her eyes and took his hand. “God…”

He stared at her, “What's happened?”.

“He’s been in hospital again...and it turns out he’s on drugs, and badly beating.” Nell’s voice was cold like stone, she was shell-shocked. “It’s all that bitch Penny’s fault” she sobbed.

"What? How?" He wasn’t worried about Theo at all, what he was worried about was the trouble he was in effecting Nell, and Fangs. However, Sweet pea wasn’t sure what the blonde was blaming Penny for exactly.

"She…" Nell swallowed "She told Ezra where he would be.”

"Nell, breathe." He pulled her into his hug. 

He had heard stories of Nell’s ex-boyfriend from Fangs, he sounded like a horrible person. Sweet pea couldn’t picture someone like Nell being with a ghoulie. 

The young woman took another deep breath. "Fangs said he found out through FP” she said wiping her eyes.

“and is Penny behind it?" His eyes narrowed.

Nell nodded “he said something about a window and a hammer." She forced a smile. "The good thing about it is that Malachai has been arrested." She looked at him. “After...an incident Theo broke Ezra’s jaw. Ever since he had been trying this best to avoid him, I know how Ezra works. He wouldn’t have done anything himself, he would have gotten someone else to do it for him”.

He tried his best to comfort her “I promise, Ezra would never touch you again or Fangs”.

“I feel so stupid getting upset.” She swallowed. “I know how people see Theo but.. he’s still my baby brother”.

“Nell.” He consolingly caressed her face, knowing that his friend needed someone more than ever, which to him was a funny thing as he wasn’t the sensitive sort. “He’s your brother, of course you care.”

“I'm sorry Sweets, but we'll have to leave our baseball weekend for another time.” Nell muttered looking down at the ground.

“That’s fine.” Sweet pea shrugged, “but I’m not leaving you on your own. So you better find something else for us to do” he said leaning back into the couch.

Nell gave him a soft smile, “Thanks sweet pea, you can pick some awful move for us to watch then.” Nell gave him a kiss on the cheek, before handing him the remote. 

They spent the night watching American Horror Story in a comfortable silence. Sweet peas hand found her blonde hair and stroked it softly, as Nell leaned her head on his chest. She jumped when the ‘piggy man’ jumped out from behind the shower curtain, causing sweet pea to laugh. She looked up at him frowning, which made him laugh even more, she looked so cute when pissed. Her green eyes continued to gaze into his brown ones, they stayed like that for a few moments before he leaned down and kissed her. It was a light brush of the lips, but enough to send shivers through them both. 

Nell leaned her head back on his chest, they stayed like that until they fell asleep.

# ______

When Fangs walked into his trailer he frowned pissed. He wasn’t glad to see Nell and Sweet pea both asleep on his couch cuddling each other.

Jughead was right, there was something going on between them.

Nell was vulnerable, and Sweet pea should know better. He couldn’t lead his cousin on them break her heart like all the other girls before, Fangs wouldn’t allow it.

He would need to ask about this later, his friendship with Sweet pea meant a lot to him. Fangs didn’t want to piss him off, but Nell wasn’t a serpent. Nell wasn’t as tough as she seemed, she suffered through an abusive relationship with an eating disorder, he was worried his cousin wouldn’t cope with another heartbreak.

Sweet pea was a good guy, but he was just a mess when it came to girls. The whole thing was a disaster waiting to happen.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sweet peas trailer**

Nobody knew what kind of brownies they had eaten or where the funny green herbs inside them had come from; any serpent should have known better than leaving any baking alone in the bar. Food disappeared within minutes in the bar. Staying in the wyrm would only have caused them to get into trouble, so Toni asked them both to leave the bar and sleep it off. 

Somehow Nell and Sweet pea had, ended up on his trailers roof wrapped in blankets, both struggling to breath from laughing so much.

"And then he told me I should act like a young lady; that I was a bad influence…" Nell narrowed her eyes giggling "What were we talking about?"

"About the time you told tall boy to fuck off." He yelped, almost choking from laughing.

"I didn't say that" Nell tried to sit up. "I was actually really polite and used a lot of extremely fancy words I'm sure he appreciated."

"What kind of words?" He asked doubtfully.

"Fuck off!” She said giggling like a school girl, “I almost forgot about that it was so long ago. I must have been about fourteen." She rolled onto her back and tried to stop laughing. 

Her attention was changed by the buzzing of her phone, the atmosphere changed almost instantly soon as she read her message. Frowning Nell shoved her phone back into her pocket, her brother kept trying to contact her. Nell was oblivious to being watched while she had been fumbling on her phone.

Sweet pea suddenly became quiet and looked up from her to the sky again. In his mind there existed only one question, did she feel the same way? Neither of them had brought up their kiss, she probably regretted it anyway.

Nell noticed his mental absence. "What's wrong?" She pushed her finger against his freezing cold cheek.

He still tried to focus his eyes anywhere but on her, “I was just thinking about something." He turned around, finding a curious expression on her face.

"Something? Or someone?" She frowned.

"I said what I meant." He tried to correct; too late and unconvincing for Nell's taste.

"It wouldn’t happen to be a girl?" She asked casually.

Nell had heard rumors about her friend's intense love life, mostly from Jughead. Spending every night with a different girl, never wanting to settle down. Warning her not become a mother notch on his bedpost. Truth was Nell had couldn’t picture that side of Sweet pea, and she could never picture him being so heartless.

He looked at her surprised “What are you thinking about Nelly?”, she looked so deep in thought.

“Thinking about how I heard you had a few different girlfriends on the go.” Nell said smoothly, she didn’t want to seem that bothered by it.

He grinned. “Ah, I see you’ve heard of my reputation. What about you? Old boyfriend come back from the dead, huh?”

Nell shook her head, before she lay down again and looked up to the sky. She had noticed the sad look in sweet peas brown eyes. 

Nell knew she shouldn’t ask him, but she did anyway. "Are you seeing someone?"

He shook his head. "I don't even know what’s happening, I don’t think she likes me."

"I understand." No, she didn't. In her eyes, sweet pea was amazing, and he was stupid to think any girl wouldn’t like him. But she wasn't going to tell him that. Instead, she turned to him again and smiled. "I'm sure you’ll get a chance with her, I can’t imagine anyone you couldn’t sweet talk.”

A shy smirk popped onto his lips “That wouldn't change anything.“ He took a deep breath. “We couldn’t be together, she’s too good for me anyway.”

Nell wondered why not, when a horrifying thought occurred to her. “it’s not Betty is it?” It would make sense. He couldn’t be with her because of Jughead, and he thought she was too good because she was from the Northside.

“Betty?” Sweet pea screwed his face up at her question. “Why would I be with that stuck up bitch? You know she cheated on Jughead with his best friend? He was a fucking idiot ever taking her back” he scoffed.

“Wait?” Nell was confused. “If you dislike her so much why did you sleep with her?” She asked rolling into her stomach.

Sweet pea burst into hysterical laughter. “I didn’t bang that stuck up Northside barbies, I’ve made that mistake before” he laughed even more at the face Nell was making. “Why would you think that?” He asked curious.

“Jughead told me he saw her leaving your trailer, you were only wearing boxers”... Nell realized how stupid she sounded.

Now it was sweet peas turned to look confused. “Only time she has ever been near my trailer was when she came looking for Topaz, she had it in her head if she could get Toni on her side Jughead would forgive her or some shit” he explained, “I was probably asleep that was why I was in my boxers, Fangs was with me when she came by. Is this why Jones hates me?” he asked.

“So Jughead has been mad at you all this time for no reason?” She asked, before they both burst into laughter again. “Can I ask you something pea? You don’t need to answer it.”

He chuckled, “I’m an open book babe.”

“Is there another issue between you and Jug?” 

When sweet pea didn’t answer right away, Nell went to apologize before he finally spoke.

“There was an incident a few years ago... it’s never really left me. I guess I’ve always blamed him.” He turned over so he was facing Nell. 

Sweet pea didn’t know if it was the accidentally weed they had taken, the drink, or the look in Nell’s wide eyes but something made him want to tell her the truth. The full truth.

He took a deep sigh. “Years ago when FP was in prison and there was this whole mess with Penny it all got out of hand. Jones made me pin her to the ground as he sliced her serpent tattoo off...” he paused when he saw the horrified look on Nell’s face. “Penny is a crazy bitch...but hurting a woman like that has haunted me for years. I’ve always blamed Jonas because I wanted to back out, but he reminded me I’d be breaking the serpent law. We were still at high school, I felt I had no choice but to go along with it.”

“Oh sweet pea”, Nell hummed as she brushed a stand of hair out of his face, she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. “I’m glad you told me. That’s a lot of guilt to carry for so long.”

“That’s not all. A year before that happened Penny had a video of me selling weed, she blackmailed me into working in some sleazy bar. I got fed up with it, I bought jingle jangle and planted it in the bar then phoned the police on her. Penny never got arrest, but a lot of innocent teenagers like me did. I've always wondered if I ruined their lives by trying to fix my own. I’ve never told anyone that, not even FP.”

Nell moved to his side and hugged him tightly, even though she knew that Sweet pea wasn't used to friendly treatments like that. She wanted him to know she'd always be there for him, and it was just too hard to find the correct words in her blurred mind.

He usually would have pulled back; but in the middle of that cannabis mist that seemed to invade him, he appreciated having her close; he laid his arm around her carefully. Sweet pea ran his fingers through her blonde hair. He sighed. Everything would have been so much easier if he wasn’t falling for her instead.

# ______

The next morning after Nell had left for work Fangs stopped by Sweet peas trailer, they needed to talk.

“Hey man.” Sweet pea said when he saw his friend enter.

“Hey, is Nell here? She never came home last night?” He asked sitting down next to him on the couch.

“You’ve just missed her. We got kicked out the wyrm last night, and she crashed on my couch. I thought she had text you and let you know where we were.” Sweet pea shrugged.

Fangs nodded, “I need to ask something... I might be my imagination or Jones getting into my head.”

He watched Sweet pea rolling his eyes at the mention of Jughead.

“Is there anything going on between you and Nell?” He eventually asked.

Sweet pea gulped down, he didn’t know what to say. “No, we are just friends.” he decided to lie instead of just telling the truth. 

Sweet pea wasn’t even sure why he was lying, Fangs was his best friend, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that he had feelings for his cousin.

**Ghoulies den**

“I’ve heard you’ve been looking for my daughter? Why” Rue asked in between puffs of her cigarette, she wasn’t happy. “I asked you a question boy” she spat.

“I have been.” Ezra confessed, the only person who scared the ghoulies was Rue Martine. 

She was brutal, and showed no mercy if you crossed her. Ezra was high most the time, and sometimes forgot who Nell’s mother actually was. He wasn’t sure if Rue knew he was behind the attack on Theo yet, he was sure he would be dead if she did.

“I've warned you before, stay away from her. You got what was coming to you from Theo, that’s the only reason you haven’t been punished. My Nelly is off limits, do you understand me?” She asked in her usual patronizing tone.

Ezra nodded, before being dismissed. He still had a score to settle with that blue haired bitch, he would just need to find a more creative way to do it. He had managed to bribe most of the other ghoulies with either drugs or money to not blab about what had happened between him and Nell as far as Rue knew he had never put a finger on her daughter. If anyone dared to tell her, they got beaten.

He had asked someone else to keep an eye on his ex, apparently she had started fucking a serpent. That was an insult to him. She had made a fool of him, and had to pay for that.


	13. Chapter 13

**Fangs trailer**

Nell had once tried to speak to her therapist about her nightmares she'd had since the shooting. It was always the same dream; always the same nightmare. She would walk into the diner at night, her clothing hanging off her body, and her blue hair covering part of her face, like a mask. Then the shooting would start, except this time someone else was in the firing line. Fangs, her father, her brother, now sweet pea appeared in them. Even after waking up, she'd sometimes still felt the burning in her shoulder. 

Nell wasn’t sure if it was an addiction or obsession she had with her experience. Either way she would wake up screaming for her family.

The constant need to analysis her dreams, was driving her insane. Nell has always tried her best to maintain control of her life, whenever she couldn’t, her eating disorder would become more apparent. Her weight being the only thing she could control in them moments.

Sweat dripped from her forehead as she sat up. Nell looked around confused, even wondering where she was. She lay on the bed trying to focus, before she got up. Going to the bathroom she got her reflections in the mirror, the wounds and bruises from her night running in the woods weren’t visible anymore. However, the damage on her shoulder still wasn’t fully healed, and she would definitely have a nasty scar. Nell went back and flopped onto the bed, accidentally knocking a lamp over and causing an almighty crashing noise.

That was the thing living in a trailer park, nothing went unheard or unnoticed. She wasn’t sure if it was because everyone on was on edge, but none of the serpents ever seemed to sleep.

Being awake and alone was torturing her, but falling asleep could bring back those nightmares. The dilemma caused her to clench his teeth in anger. Only if Penny would fuck off, maybe that would help solve one of the problems that kept her up at night. Nell was about to get up again to see what type of alcohol she could find in his trailer when the sudden buzz of her phone on the mattress caught her attention. Why was Sweet pea calling her in the middle of the night? She hurried to answer it.  
Sweets! What’s wrong?” She practically yelled down the phone.

“Are you okay?” His voice was filled with concern. “I was just on the phone to FP, and he said he heard a loud noise came from Fangs trailer. He was going to come and check on you, but I said I’d phone first.”

She couldn't help but smile. “I'm okay Sweets, just lost a fight with a lamp.”

“You can't imagine how happy FP will be to hear that, he couldn’t cope with any more drama. Sorry for calling you so late..I just it would be better me phoning than him barging in,” he said in a low voice.

“Don't be” She chuckled. “How the job going?”

Nell already knew the answer. One of the older serpents owned a couple of garages and sweet pea was now sent along with Fangs work there, and to help with ‘serpent business’ whatever that meant. Probably flogging old car parts off as new.

"Fine," he said in a sarcastic tone. "I have a lot of spare time to think which of my veins I want to rip out first."

“You could try looking at it as a vacation? Fangs said there was a beach nearby”, she teased.

"No way" He said in a bored tone. "I hate the beach.”

"No, you don't. You just hate relaxing." Nell laughed.

"Maybe" Sweet pea smirked down the phone. "What about you? Your boyfriend Jones been round much?" He teased.

"No, I’ve only seen him once" She laughed, “he said he lied because he thought you were trying to get into my pants. I also explained the Betty thing, I hope you don’t mind. Plus, it’s always nice to have someone when you guys are away.”

"You can call me whenever you want, you know that." Sweet pea was serious. 

He knew that Nell had really struggled to fit in the Southside, most people still seen her as some kind of mix-breed between serpent and ghoulie. They were still waiting to find out who leaked that information in the first place. His money was on Jughead, not him directly, but something he had done caused others to find out.

“Yeah” A deep sigh found its way through the line. “Well, I'll try to get some more sleep. Think about relaxing Sweets. I'm sure it would do you good.”

“I will, take care.”

“You too” she smiled sadly.

Shortly after the conversation ended Nell fell asleep, and as usual her nightmare repeated itself again and again, except this time something was different. The ending was different, sweet pea saved her. 

**Pops diner**

“What’s up Jonesy? You are a little more prickly than normal.” Toni sitting her milkshake down.

It was her weekly lunch date with Jughead, which he had missed the past few weeks. He never said why, but at first Toni was convinced it was because he was seeing someone new. However, he looked very unhappy for someone who was getting laid regularly.

Jughead said nothing and just shoved his food about his plate, that was the last straw for Toni.

“Jug.” she snapped, “What the hell is going on?” She asked frowning. Something was definitely going on, it took a lot for Jughead Jones not eat his burger and fries.

“I fucked up” he said sighing.

The pink haired serpents frown turned into a look of concern, she was worried about her friend. “What did you do?” Toni asked in a lower voice.

Jughead leaned in closer to his friend, the diner wasn’t particularly busy, but he was paranoid that someone would overhear them. “So you know how the other serpents found out about Nell?” He asked quietly.

“Yes.” Toni answered unimpressed.

She was pissed. Toni had started to consider Nell a friend but nobody had filled her in on her being half ghoulie. She understood not telling everyone, but it would have been nice if she was kept in the loop.

“That might be my fault” he confessed sighing.

“How could it be you’re fault? You didn’t tell any of the serpents, did you? Fangs will kill you.” Toni pointed out.

Jughead rolled his eyes, it wasn’t just Fangs he was worried about pissing off. He was sure along with Nell and Fangs, Sweet pea would have something to say on the matter.

“I told Betty.” Jughead said placing his head in his hands. 

The guilt had been eating him up, he didn’t think his ex-girlfriend would have blabbed to her mom, who then told god the town.

“Let me guess, Barbie told her mom, and she told everyone?” Toni asked, before putting another few fries into her mouth.

“It was post sex chat, I wasn’t thinking. She started asking me about her, I completely for I’d even said anything until it was too late.” Jughead groaned, “I don’t know how to fix this.”

Toni reached her free hand out and placed it on her friends. “You do realize you can’t? All you can do is tell the truth, you’ll probably get some shit from them but I’m sure Nell won’t be to mad.”

Jughead nodded, his blonde friend was pretty chill. He just hoped he hadn’t said anything else he shouldn’t have, and forgotten about it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fangs trailer**

_It’s simple, really. Everyone has a soulmate. A one-and-only, a person at your side through the cloudiest and stormiest of days. Someone to love you unconditionally. Someone who, despite your mistakes, will never give up on you. You’re drawn them, no matter how far apart you are. When you meet them you’re supposed to feel so complete, so happy, so why didn’t she ever feel that way? Why didn’t Nell feel like the world suddenly stopped, like everyone and everything around the two of them just disappeared when she glanced up into those blood shot eyes?_

_“I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work anymore.... I think we should break up.” Nell said softly._

_She had ripped the napkin between her fingers to stop herself looking him in the eyes, Nell couldn’t face it. She had spent the past few months in fear of her boyfriend. Most women who dated a ghoulie developed black-eye syndrome. A fact she unfortunately found out the hard way, and too late._

_Lewis Ezra Mitchell was once the love of her life. He was the sweet boy from down the street who had always been her best friend, he was kind, funny and captain of the basketball team at school. Now? Now he was older and grew out of his kindness and joined the ghoulies._

_At first Nell convinced herself it was, so he could keep an eye on her brother, that’s what he always told her. Lewis now went by his middle name, and was a low level drug runner for the gang and was notorious for his violent outburst. She had to let him go, the boy she had once fallen for was long gone, and she was scared of the monster in front of her._

_“No.” He barked._

_She stuttered. “Look I’m sorry, but I can’t do this any more.”_

_“I said no”, his voice was stern and cold._

_Nell eventually glanced up at him to be greeted with the anger in his eyes._

_They stared at each other in silence. The room was packed with other gang members, most of them enjoying jingle jangle, or whatever ‘nose candy’ they had. Girls would be giving blowjobs, or getting fingered in the bathroom for a hit. Nell always hated this place, it was against everything she agreed with. Her mother would hold the gatherings in the dingy dirty bar that smelled of stale piss. The only reason Nell choose it was because it was public, and less chance for Lewis... Ezra to cause a scene. She hoped._

_This place always caused her to feel uneasy, Nell had never tried drugs, and hardly drank, she only ever smoked when she got the urge to throw up. She needed to escape this toxic environment, leaving him was the first step._

_“I should go.” Nell said standing as she reached for her bag a hand grabbed at her wrist tightly._

_“Go where? You can’t be fucking serious about leaving?!” His voice was loud and attracted the attention of the other ghoulies in the bar, every single one of them was watching now. He had something to prove._

_“Stop it, you're hurting me” she was practically pleading with him._

_He tightened his grip on her wrist causing it to bruise, while pulling her closer. “It will hurt a lot fucking more if you attempt to leave. I own you, remember that.”_

_Nell looked around, her eyes begging for someone to help her. But by now everyone had turned back on them, minding their own business. Nobody got involved when women were in danger. The ghoulies craved blood, even if it was from each other._

_Stupidly or bravely, she decided to snap her arm back. “I said let go of me Lewis.”_

_Before Nell could grab her belongs, she couldn’t breathe. He had grabbed her by the throat. Earning a chuckle from some other boys behind him._

_“You want to play it like this?” He growled at her, before spitting on her. “I told you Nell, I fucking own you. If I say you are not going, it means you aren’t going.”_

_“fuck you!” She hissed, once he loosened his grip a little._

_This was the one time she wished her mother would return. She was pretty sure Rue wouldn’t let them seriously hurt her, her brother would probably end up in prison for murder if he came back at this time._

_Nell stomped on his foot so he would let go._

_He jumped in pain, before slapping her across the face. “You stupid bitch. You fucking cunt!” He yelled grabbing a handful of her hair._

_Nell mentally prepared herself for the beating she was about to take, and the pain she was about to feel. She tried her best to blink her tears away._

_“Let go of her now!” A voice yelled from behind them._

_She recognized the man, but she couldn’t place him. Nell would soon come to learn this man was her savior, one of the few people who truly ever tried to help her._

Nell sat up gasping. She couldn’t breathe, and it took her a moment to realize where she was. The sweat with rolling down her face and neck, she hadn’t thought about that night in a while.

“Are you okay?” A male voice asked from behind her.

Rubbing her eyes Nell turned to face a freaked out looking Sweet pea, she was mortified. She had fallen asleep on the couch and had a nightmare. Not being able to speak she just nodded.

“Here” Sweet pea said handing her a glass of water, “Fangs said I could come by...I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Nell shook her head. “It’s fine, I’m sorry I don’t remember falling asleep and.”

“You don’t need to apologize for sleeping” he shrugged.

Nell hates the way Sweet pea was looking at her, he thought she was crazy. “Thanks for this” was all Nell said before going into the bedroom she was staying in. She didn’t know it was upsetting her so much. Leaning back against the wall, she sank to the floor before bursting into tears.

After a few moments there was a knock on the door. “Can I come in? I didn’t mean to upset you.” Sweet pea said from the other side of the door, before Nell had a chance to answer he let himself into the bedroom regardless. Without saying anything he sat down next to her.

“You must think I’m crazy” she eventually sniffed.

“Yeah well...” Sweet pea said smiling, Nell laughed slightly at his sarcastic comment. “I don’t think you’re crazy, I think you’re someone who just had a bad dream” he said pulling her into a hug.

“I had a horrible dream about Ezra...I just...I keep wondering if that night hadn’t happened, if my brother would have still ended up on drugs, you know? I never started using until after he got arrested for what he did to Ezra.” Nell explained.

Sweet pea frowned, this wasn’t her fault. “You can’t blame yourself for Theo becoming an addict, the only person who can be blamed is him.”

Nell just hugged into him tighter, apart from Fangs Sweet pea was the only other person who made her feel safe. 

**Whyte wyrm**

“I never thanked you for bringing me here and giving me a chance” Nell said. “I could never explain how grateful I am, thank you.”

FP shrugged smiling at her, “no serpent left behind.” 

Even if she wasn’t Eddie’s daughter he would never have left her in that place, it baffled him how her mother let her and her brother live with them thugs...but she was in a safer place now with the serpents.

Nell smiled at him before hopping off the bar stool, FP was a good man. No matter what demons he might have once’s faced, and the wrongs he had done. She owed him everything. “Hey”, she said joining Jughead at a small table in the corner.

“Hi”, he eyed her curiously. “What were you and my dad just talking about?” He asked. Jughead liked Nell he really did, but he still didn’t understand the story with his father.

“One day jug” she said winking. “Do you know when Fangs will be back yet? I’ve hardly heard from him, and he’s not answered my texts in days.”

“Actually” he pointed towards the door behind her just as her cousin walked in, “right on time.” 

Jughead saw the slightly pissed look on her face, before she jumped up. He was going to tell her about the Betty and Alice thing, but decided he would do it at a different time. A bar full of serpents wasn’t the best place to possibly start an argument anyway.

“You asshole Fangs, you had me worried.” Nell said playfully punching him on the shoulder.

Fangs grinned pulling her in for a hug, “I wanted to surprise you. Come on Sweets is back at the trailer. We have loads to catch up on.. Jug do you want to come join us?”

“Nah, you guys go have fun. I’ll catch you later” he said sipping on his beer.

Once they stepped outside the bar, Nell followed her cousin to his car before they headed to the trailer. Not realizing someone was watching her.

# ______

“Really the blonde? She’s pretty.” A small female voice said. 

She was sitting in the passenger seat in a car not far from where Fangs was parked. The girl was only fourteen and the newest recruit in a new gang that was forming outside Riverdale.

“She’s also the bitch that made a fool of Ezra. He was wondering where she ran off to hide” an older girl said holding binoculars. “He wasn’t thrilled to find out she had run off to the serpents, he just wants to know a bit more before he does something” she explained.

“Will he be able to do anything if she’s under a serpent's protection?” The younger girl asked. “Wouldn’t that cause a gang war.”

She was so innocent, and didn’t realize that’s what Ezra and his ghoulie friends wanted. The young girl looking them driving off, the taller serpent looked terrifying. Not the kind of person you would want to get on the wrong side of.

Rolling her eyes at the comment, the older girl put the binoculars down and pulled out her phone. “Trust me he’s determined, Ezra wouldn’t be offering money to find her if he didn’t have a plan.”

**Fangs trailer**

The rest of the night Fangs, Nell, Sweet pea, and Toni were happy and drinking. Laughter could be heard across the trailer park, along with Fangs terrible singing. They pissed off a few neighbors, but most people got used to loud noises from the bar anyway. 

Fangs had noticed how touchy-feely his cousin seemed to be with his friend, what was even more strange was Sweet pea didn’t seem to mind. It would have bothered him before but after talking with Sweet pea he tried not to think about it, if something was going on he would have known about it by now.

Toni told them about her new girlfriend who sounded almost as fiery as her.

Nell wasn’t drinking alcohol but still had a good time, she was really beginning to enjoy her life in Riverdale. Granted she needed her own trailer and a better job, but apart from that everything seemed to be slowly falling into place.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sweet peas trailer**

It was a miracle they arrived home without being in an accident. They had emptied a whole bottle of tequila before being flung into a cab by the barmaid. Though they were sure the taxi driver skipped a red light and almost killed a pedestrian, he got them back to the trailer park safe and sound. After getting kicked out of the bar, he had managed to talk Nell into coming with him to his trailer to empty his fridge, Nell happily agreed.

"I'm never getting a taxi again, he was a freaking lunatic!" She had been laughing during their whole ride and still couldn't stop.

"I’m a better driver drunk than he is sober." sweet pea said before opening his eyes widely, faking a scared look. 

He put his arm around her waist as they both tried to hold each other as they walked towards the door of his trailer.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said as he closed the door behind them and watched Nell walk into his trailer straight as she could. 

Sweet pea couldn't help but smirk at the view, she was wearing a dark denim skirt with a red & black flannel shift. He slipped out of his leather jacket and threw the clothing into a random corner, hoping to find it the following day. He took two bottles of beer and sat it on the table in front of his couch. Sweet pea was surprised at how well Nell could handle her drink, considering she was so small. Most serpents on the other hand were a walking disaster when the tequila hit them.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he sat next to her on the couch. He couldn’t help but notice the way she slightly flinched when leaning a certain way.

She held her head. “I’m fine." She sighed and fell back onto the pillows. Her look became absent. "Just tired," she whispered.

He looked at her tenderly. Of course, she was. Fangs had mentioned how little she slept most nights because of nightmares she was having. He made it his mission to try to take her mind off it.

"So that Northie that was hitting on you, he got a chance?" he asked, earning a killing gaze from her.

"No, he wasn't hitting on me. He was just being friendly." She laughed.

"That's what you think about Jughead, too, you just don’t see—" A pillow hit his face before he could finish the sentence. Nell gave him a mischievous smirk.

"Me and him are just friends, are you jealous" She smiled mockingly and leaned forward. "You and Jug are more similar than you realize."

"Ouch!" Theatrically, sweet pea put a hand on his chest. "That hurt!"

Her giggle filled the room. A second later, she looked down. “Sorry Sweets, I have no right to hit you where it hurts."

"No, don't apologize." He shrugged his shoulders. "You're right. We do...probably why we don’t get along that well. Some might say we both desire the same thing.” Nell squeezed his large hand, with her much smaller one.

"What?" He frowned.

"I don’t understand why you don’t ever just say what you feel?" She sighed.

He blew out a deep, doubtful sigh and chewed on his lower lip. "That would mean that I’d need to admit being fucked up." Sweet pea admitted forcing a smile.

"So what? There's nothing wrong about it. I'm fucked up too!" she said giggling. 

Nell leaned forward against his shoulder and burst into contagious laughter before leaning backwards, inviting him to join her ecstatic situation.

"Well then." He laid his arm around her shoulders as she stretched her legs over his right knee. A very comfortable position to be in, "At least we can be fucked up together.”

A smile crawled up on both their lips, and then it happened. Nell had actually wanted to place a kiss on his cheek, not expecting him to turn around at that moment. It was just a hint of a touch, but enough to make her embarrassed.

Sure they had kissed before, but since he never brought it up again, Nell just assumes he regretted it. Now she had gone and kissed him again. 

“Oh my god! shit! I'm sorry.” She buried her face in her hands.

He couldn't help but laugh at her. How cute she looked. “No drama, Nell. It was just an accident.” Sweet pea gently made her put her hands down, as she stared at him doubtfully. Her face blushed with an intense red. He wasn’t sure why, but he cupped her chin and placed another, kiss on her lips. “See? It’s not a big deal”.

But it was a big deal. They smiled at each other, hesitating, feeling something they shouldn't.

Nell’s heart skipped a beat when sweet pea, leaned in again. His lips were softer than she had remembered, and tasted of salty-sour tequila. They knew something was not right about what they were doing, but it felt so good. How could it possibly be wrong? She started sliding her fingers over the line of his jaw, while he continued playing with her blonde hair.

The kiss became more intense, as a warm feeling began to rise in both their stomachs. Giving in to his most basic instinct, Sweet pea hand slid to her thigh and under her skirt. He wanted to feel her, to discover those spots that had been forbidden to him. She moaned as she felt his touch and tangled her fingers in his hair. Nell moved herself onto his lap, one leg on each side, and caused their sexes to rub against one another through their clothing. Almost crying out with joy when she noticed something growing in his pants.

No no no...this was the point they should stop. Nell couldn’t let this continue. Surly sweet pea would want her to stop before it went any further.

Of course sweet pea wanted more of her. He wanted all of her. He didn't know when exactly he had stopped giving a shit about anything and just let the idea of fucking her grow wildly in his mind. It didn't matter. They were young, and they were drunk, and they have the rest of their life for regrets. His fingers unbuttoned her flannel shirt, revealing her breast. Her bra was dark green and lace, sweet peas mouth watered at the thought. He began squeezing her over the thin material.

He finally broke their kiss to bring his mouth to her right nipple, sucking it softly through the fabric. She grabbed the hem of his sweaty top and pushed him away far enough from her to pull it over his head. Tracing a line of kisses on his neck, Nell made her way down to his chest, as he moaned.

Sweet pea blew out a short breath of admiration when he saw her get up to lift her skirt. Nell pulled her panties down, leaving them on the floor next to her feet. Kneeling down before him, her hands worked on his zipper, freeing his huge erection. Hearing his moans, seeing him tilt his head back at the sensation of her cold fingers stimulating his hard member made her feel even more turned on.

Sweet pea’s head spun, and he couldn't bear it any longer. She had gone very slow, so slow that it had driven him completely wild. His fingers hooked into her hips and pushed them down, driving his whole manhood right into her depth with one quick thrust and a deep groan. It was done. He was inside. Now, there was no turning back. She placed her hands on his shoulders, getting ready to move. Oh, how she moved! He hadn't expected something like that from sweet Nell. She knew exactly how to lift and lower herself on him. It was Nell, she was wet and hot and felt so incredibly good that he started wondering why they hadn't surrendered to their desires before.

His loyalty to his best friend always came to mind...

“Nell,” he gasped against her lips, “fuck Nell...this is.”

“Just shut up, and fuck me!” She moaned and leaned over to bite his neck. 

The blonde continued moving her hips up and down, making him enter as deep as she could, and driving him completely wild. His hands on her hips helping her move. She leaned back, holding onto his shoulders with both hands, riding him shamelessly. Not one for usually letting someone else is in control, there was no doubt sweet pea completely loved it.

Nell stopped moving and lifted herself off him, she got onto her knees on the pillows next to him, with her upper body leaned against the backrest. He couldn't believe his luck. He stood behind her and pressed his member against her, his fingers caressing her thighs and butt. How beautiful she looked, kneeling in front of him with her exposed pussy under the lifted skirt, her swollen lips and the intense blush on her face - only for him. Oh, fuck!  
He rubbed his tip against her from behind, she was so fucking wet. He wanted to be inside her warmth again. Without further hesitation, he slid himself into her from behind and kept fucking her, moving slowly at first, but soon increasing his pace and thrusting into her with fury.

“Fuck, Nell. This is-“ Her name sounded so different when he moaned it. Sweet pea had wondered how his name would sound with her screaming it for a while now.

Her whole body felt numb and electrified at once. She leaned her left arm on the backrest, resting her head on it, as her right hand went down to her clit. 

“Don’t stop,” she cried out as she started rubbing herself frantically.

He didn't need to hear more. His thrusts became harder, deeper, if that was even possible. He wanted to make her scream, make her feel as close to cumming as he did. He leaned forward and cupped her breasts again, feeling how hard her nipples had turned. She was driving him completely crazy, but sweet pea was doing his best to not be too rough on her.

"Nell I'm-"Spasms ran through his body as he released in her. His moves got slower, more sloppy, until he shot his last drop into her.

The sudden feeling of him pulling out made her shiver, instantly missing the feeling of him inside her. They both collapse upon the couch. Sweet pea turned her towards him, cupped her jaw and brought his lips to hers again.

This was new... he never usually kissed someone after having sex.

Her soft arms embraced his strong ones, as she closed her eyes. While he caressed her blonde hair and kissed her sweat-soaked forehead. He stared at her, admiring her beauty for a while.

The small smile on his lips faded when he realized what he was feeling. Guilt. Yes he had just had sex with someone he really cared about, which was unusual for him. But while getting fucked, he has quite literally fucked someone else over.

Sweet pea was pretty sure this wasn’t what Fangs had in mind when he asked to keep an eye on his cousin. How would he react? He was unsure if his friend really needed to know. On this he did know was; Nell was sleeping tight and peacefully in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone stay safe during the Coronavirus outbreak!


	16. Chapter 16

**Sweet pea trailer**

A strange noise pulled Sweet pea out of his sleep. He opened his eyes and stared into a quiet face, buried under several strands of blonde hair. He looked at her and smiled tenderly fuck he sucked in a short breath as the night before came flooding back, along with a terrible headache. Also, that fucking noise was still hammering.

He looked around and saw his phone on the floor, wondering how it ended up there. Probably fell out his jacket when he flung it across the room.

Nell was woken by the movement next to her. Still, not fully awake, she drew daggers at the person who had interrupted her sleep so ungraciously and smiled. Before remembering what had happened the night before. She felt under her skirt for her underwear and cursed herself in disgust when she noticed the hot fluid that was still dripping out of her.

“Fangs.” Lucky it wasn't one of his usual video calls.

Sweet pea turned around to Nell, who was desperately trying to straighten her clothes. He lifted a finger, asking her to give him one minute. Nell nodded, faking a smile.

“Yes, sure, I think I can be there in a couple of hours. Can you send me the details?” He walked over to his bedroom, still speaking on the phone.

As soon as he had turned his back to her again, Nell jumped off the couch. Shoes, handbag, underwear? Where was her goddamn underwear? She still had her bra but no pants. Screw it.

“Got it. I’ll... phone you back.” Sweet pea heard a noise coming from the next room, he looked out the bedroom to see Nell frantically trying to unlock the door.

He threw the phone on the bed. “Nell, wait!” He started running after her.

She didn't really know what she was running from, but she needed to get out of there. How could she have been so stupid? They didn’t even use a condom. Stupid stupid stupid.

Sweet pea reached the door and called her name, without any answer. If he was wearing more clothes he would have sprinted after her, but chasing a girl he’d just slept with in nothing but boxers didn’t send the right message. He hit the door frame in anger, much to the disadvantage of his knuckles. Rubbing his fist, he blew a curse through his teeth. What the fuck had he done?

An elder man looked at him from his open door, from the trailer across from him. “I was like you, young man.” He smiled nicely, “Until I tried Viagra and stopped drinking so much.”

Sweet pea looked at him in disbelief before forcing himself to smile thankfully. As if he had ever needed to hear that. He shut the door and fell back against it, sliding to the floor of his trailer. His headache was killing him and the situation was definitely too much to handle.

What the fuck had he done? He'd had drunk, way too much this time. Then he'd had sex. With Nell. Fangs was going to kill him. Among all the women in the world he hadn't had fucked yet, it'd had to be Nell. His best friends cousin, his best friend... He hadn't even used a goddamn condom. Great Idea! Great! "Shit!" he still didn’t understand Nell’s reaction, and why she ran out. Maybe she regretted it that much she couldn’t even look at him?

Meanwhile, Nell done the fastest walk of shame ever to Fangs trailer, swearing to herself that she'd never drink again. 

**Pops diner**

“You hear them too, don't you?” Sweet pea looked up from his phone to see his favorite blonde standing next to him smiling.

“What?” he asked as she sat down across from him.

“The voices in my head telling me to say something smart and not awkward.” Nell smiled as she heard him laugh out loud.

“To say something not awkward? Yes, I hear them too.” He sighed, before finally finding the words.

“Sweet pea, I'm so sorry. No matter what happened I shouldn't have left the way I did.” Nell felt incredibly guilty, she had been selfish. She just wanted to leave an incredibly awkward situation, forgetting about sweet pea's abandonment issues.

He smiled relieved and took her hand in his. It was cold and shivered. “I get it. I was freaked out, too.”

Sweet pea let go of her hand when the waitress brought over two burgers and fries. Inviting her to pops was a great idea for different reasons. Firstly it was public and neither of them would cause a scene, secondly the hangover food.

“Nell, we...” he finally said. “I don't know if you're aware of it but” He hesitated. What was the right way to bring up that subject? Nell looked up hesitantly. He took a deep breath, “We didn't use a condom.”

Nell stared at him, showing an amused expression. “Unless you have any strange infections I should know about, I’m not worried,” she said smiling. “I'm on birth control.”

He frowned smiling hesitantly, “So you are responsible and irresponsible all at once.”

“Don't blame me. I'm not the only one here who forgot to use a condom.” She pointed out giggling.

He smiled at her “So, no risk?” His concerned look made her giggle.

“Well, a zero point one percent.” She shrugged. “Sorry Sweet’s. I'm not going to make you a daddy today.” She frowned as she saw him sigh in relief. “You seem almost too happy about that.”

“Come on,” he said with a calm voice. 

He knew for sure that she wasn’t wanting his child, but he was relieved to see her smirk shamelessly. Sweet pea was glad, he didn't want to offend her either.

She looked at him seriously. "Do you regret it?" Regret it? Did he regret it?

“No.” He answered honestly. He was then shocked at the expression on her face, was she expecting him to say yes?

“Sorry... I just thought you probably would.” Nell said before lifting a fry to her mouth.

Sweet pea was speechless, how could an amazing girl like Nell still think he wouldn’t want her? He frowned. “Because of Fangs? Or because of a different reason?”

“Fangs... and because we aren’t together”, she sighed “I’ve never had sex with someone I’ve not been in a relationship with.”

Sweet pea gulped down his drink. He didn’t want a girlfriend, he enjoyed not being tied down, plus he would never last long in a relationship. What would have happened anyway? They would continue to fuck, until when? Until Nell left like everyone else always did, unless she decided to stay.

He was interrupted by Nell nudging his hand, “Hey are listening to me pea?”

“Huh, Yeah sure.” He sighed. No, she would definitely leave. It was best whatever this was ended now.

“So we’re still cool, right? Still friends after last night?” Sweet pea could have sworn the look on Nell’s face was disappointment, he didn’t like feeling guilt.

“Yeah of course. Don’t worry, I didn’t expect anything else.” _Ouch_. “I should really head off, I have things I need to do before now royal highness returns.”

Sweet pea smirked hearing her describe Fangs like that, he watched as she quickly left, leaving behind a half-eaten meal and an extremely confused young man.

**Pops driveway**

“Is that her?” A male voice asked surprised.

Ezra practically growled in anger, “yes.”

“Shit man, I didn’t think you could a pull a girl like that in a million years. No wonder she left your sorry ass”, the two boys in the car burst into laughter.

They had been watching Nell as she left the diner, and walked towards a bus stop. The two other guys in the car talked between themselves about some drugs deal that was about to go down, while he sat glaring into the diner. She had been eating with some snake with a stupid tattoo on his neck, he would need to find out more about him.

“Why don’t you go after her?” The guy sitting in the driver seat asked.

Ezra rolled his eyes, these new members didn’t have a clue. It was daylight with loads of witnesses, and he needed to make sure she was alone. Nell had made a full of him, and needed to get what was coming to her. 

**Sweet peas trailer**

The banging on his trailer door startled him, Sweet pea groaned as flung on some clothes. “What?” He shouted pissed. It was seven in the morning, this better be good.

Not getting an answer he flung the door open, he was surprised to see Nell standing there. She was dripping wet as a result of being out in the heavy rain. He stepped back for her to walk in, she seemed visibly upset.

“What’s going on?” He asked frowning.

“Sorry...I should have phoned first.” Nell said shaking her head.

Sweet pea placed his hands on her face, “what’s going on?” He asked more softly.

Nell let out a deep sigh. “This is going to sound so stupid...but I thought someone else was there. I could have sworn I heard voices from outside, and when I went into the living room someone was trying the handle.”

“What did you do? Where was Fangs?!” He asked concerned.

Nell shrugged off her Jacket and hung it on the back of his door. “Fangs never came home last night, he texted me saying he was going to some guys house to hook up. I just waited until I thought it was clear and ran...I didn’t know where else to go.”

Sweet pea ran his hand through her damp hair, and kissed her on the forehead. “You can always come here, you don’t ever need to ask. But if you had phoned me I would have come over.”

Nell leaned into him. She must have sounded crazy, Sweet pea would probably think she was insane and ask her to leave soon. 

“Here” he said interrupting Nell’s trail of thoughts, “put this on and I’ll hang your clothes up.”

Nell accepted his t-shirt and began stripping, it wasn’t until she was in her underwear that she realized that what she was doing. Stripping almost naked in front of her friend, however sweet pea didn’t seem phased and was looking out the window.

“Hurry up.” He said impatient, “I want to go back to bed.”

“I’m changed.” Nell said smiling as Sweet pea turned to face her.

“Right let’s go then” he yawned, “unless you want me to stay in the couch?” He offered.

Nell stepped forward and kissed Sweet pea on the lips, surprising him. “Lets get you back to bed then.”

Nell jumped as he smacked her on the bum before following her into his bedroom. They spent the rest of the morning in Sweet peas bed, talking until they both fell back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next few chapters relationships will change. Nell will start to see the darker side of sweet pea, as her past starts to catch up with her.


	17. Chapter 17

**Fangs trailer**

“Right, I know I’ve already asked this but I need to again. Is anything happening between you and Nell?” Fangs asked casually.

Sweet pea almost choked on his breakfast, Nell had left before he arrived. As always, they had loads of food and plenty for him as well. Almost as if they expected him to come over.

“I told you last time, nothing going on” he lied.

Sweet pea felt guilty for lying, but him and Nell had spoken about it, and they decided not to tell anyone what was going on between them yet. He wanted to tell Fangs, he wanted to tell Fangs that he was falling in love with his cousin. And he didn’t want his friend to hate him for it.

“Okay.” Was all Fangs said before changing the subject. 

**Northside bar**

Sweet pea had his hand clasped over Nell’s mouth as he pounded her from behind. She clung to the staircase railing, desperate to keep herself from toppling over with the force of his thrusts. 

Leave it to sweet pea to find a way to use her access to the storage room inappropriately. Nell’s manager had given her a set of keys some time ago, explaining that she trusted her more than her other coworkers to distribute supplies throughout the office. If she could see her now, she'd surely be appalled by her decision and Nell would be fired.

Sweet pea’s hips slammed against her backside roughly as he reached a hand around her waist to rub at her clit. The action, in return, made her walls clamp around his cock and her toes curl in her shoes.

“Are you going to cum, baby?” he whispered in her ear.

Nell nodded quickly, doing her best to keep from screaming. He increased the speed of his thrusts, causing a rather lewd sound to echo through the stairwell. She just hoped to god that no one could hear them from outside. Her pussy fluttered around his cock, the first effects of her release just beginning to ripple through her body. She honestly couldn't believe they were doing this, truthfully she was suspicious of sweet pea offering to help her lock up.

Nell cried out as she came, the sound effectively muffled by the hand over her mouth. Sweet pea continued pounding into her as she rode her orgasm out, her pussy clamping around him and milking him dry as her legs shook. He came inside her soon after. They had been fucking for four months in secret, they had agreed to leave it to a one-night stand, but they always found their way back to each other. Friends in public and quickies in private is what the relationship was built on.

After feeling him slip out of her, Nell pulled up her pants. She turned around to face him and grabbed his hand, starting to lead him up the stairs.

“I lied to Fangs again. This whole situation is starting to feel really wrong Nell, I don’t understand why we still need to hide this from everyone.” Sweet pea confessed.

“C'mon, I'll show you how to get out the back way.” Nell said looking at the clock hanging on the wall, her boss would be back soon. She was so focused on not being caught she hadn’t heard her a word her lover had said.

Sweet pea frowned at her, “why do you always fucking do that?”

“Do what?” Nell asked, she wasn’t sure what she had done wrong. 

Judging by the angry gaze she was getting, she must have done something. Sweet pea wasn’t one for hiding his emotions, but Nell had never seen him look this pissed before. 

“The back door? You always.. You know what never fucking mind. I’m done.” Sweet pea huffed.

_He was done?_ “What are you done with sweet pea? With us?” She asked shocked.

“Yes with us!” His voice was beginning to rise, he was so angry at the way she used him. “It’s been four fucking months. Four months of wasting my fucking time lying and sneaking around for no reason. You don’t even want to be with me.”

“I do want to be with you! I just don’t think it’s safe. I’m doing it to protect you!” Nell explained, again.

Sweet pea scoffed, he didn’t buy it. Nell kept saying she was trying to ‘protect him’ and herself from her crazy ex-boyfriend, she was convinced he was stalking her. He was now beginning to think it was an easy way out for her, an excuse. He hadn’t once witnessed any of the ‘incidents’ she had spoken about.

“You are either batshit crazy or a fucking liar.” Sweet pea mumbled under his breath. 

“You think I’m crazy?” Nell asked quietly.

Sweet pea now regretted his comment. He could see the hurt in Nell’s eyes, her eating disorder, anxiety and insomnia hadn’t even crossed his mind. He felt incredibly guilty for the second time that day.

“Fuck you!” Nell snapped. 

She knew this was a disaster waiting to happen. She had heard the rumors, but choose not to believe them. Now she was the fool who believed she could change him, be the one Sweet pea would finally care about. Instead, she would just be another notch on his bedpost. 

“I must be crazy to ever believe you could...just fuck you. If you honestly think I’d use my abusive ex as an excuse to not be with you...then we shouldn’t be together again. Ever.” Nell said trying to hold back tears.

Sweet pea sorted his zipper, before turning to face Nell. Her hair was sweaty, her cheeks red, and her chest was still falling up and down at some rate either from her orgasm a few moments before, or anger. All he wanted to do was kiss her, and he say he was sorry, but he was too angry for that.

“Like I said I’m done.” He stormed off leaving Nell standing confused. 

He wasn’t even sure why it had pissed him off so much, he didn’t even understand why he felt this way. Sweet pea had a reputation for being a fuck boy, he had slept with so many girls then ignored them after, treating them the exact same way he felt Nell treated him, except he was a better liar than her. He had a few girlfriends in his teenage years, but he always cheated on them. But Nell? She was different.

His usual type was bad girls, ones who didn’t mind being fucked and dumped the next day. That wasn’t Nell, she had a real job before, never done drugs - minus the one time they accidentally got high on brownies, and hated violence. Him on the other hand? Sweet pea never had a job that wasn’t through the serpents, he used to smoke weed all the time at high school, and he had been in more fights than he could count.

The truth was, Nell was far too good for him. Yet he found himself craving her. Sweet pea had mentally kicked himself for storming out, but what was the point in staying? He had risked his relationship with his best friend for someone who made him not feel like he was wanted. He had fallen fast for the blonde, but he knew the signs. Sweet pea was just a friend with benefits to her.

He had only one option now, drink until he couldn’t feel anything.


	18. Chapter 18

**Somewhere unknown...**

Everything was cold and damp.

Her whole body shook with pain, she wanted to scream out but was unable to, she couldn’t even cry. Everything was numb.

Struggling to see, Nell could have sworn she could hear someone coming. _No, no not again_. 

She couldn’t go through it again. The blonde would rather be dead than got through what she just survived again. 

**Jones household**

Sweet pea woke with a shuddering gasp. His eyes snap open as pain rippled through his body in a merciless wave that has him almost throwing up. The sheets are damp with sweat, knotted around his legs and shoved to the end of the bed in a crumpled heap. Except this wasn’t his bed.

The early morning light spilled in through the curtains and casts a pale glow throughout the room. He stared in the room, his heart pounding in his chest. It takes him several minutes for him to realize this is a girls room, a really girly girls room.

Even with everything he drank last night, Sweet Pea didn’t take into account the fact he’d have one bitch of a hangover in the morning. He popped two Advil that he assumed was left for him on the bedside counter and downed the glass of water with it as well. Blankets pooled around his waist as he shifts on the bed, stretching and wincing as his back cracks loudly. Sweet Pea groaned as he rubbed at his eyes, swearing under his breath at the light. What the fuck happened last night.

“Glad you are finally up. It’s only two in the afternoon” an unimpressed voice said.

Sweet pea glared in the bedroom door, “Jones?” He asked confused.

“You are in my sister bed if you are wondering” he scoffed.

Sweet pea stared at him blankly, he still had no idea what he was doing there. Surly he didn’t kick a young girl out her bed, did he?

“My sister is with my mom this weekend. How much do you remember?” Jughead had now fully walked into the room pulled out the chair from his sisters makeup table.

“Nothing” sweet pea groaned. 

That was a lie, he remembered his fight with Nell... then phoning her and begging her to come to the Whyte Wyrm which she declined, by politely telling him to go fuck himself. Which he deserved. He shouldn’t have called her crazy. That was a low blow, when he knew how sensitive she was around the stigma of mental health.

“I only let you stay here so you wouldn’t get arrested or beaten up.” Jughead looked like a disappointed parent with his arms folded.

Arrested? What had he done. 

“I’m going to need your help to fill in the blanks Jones” he said sitting up in the bed.

“I arrived just in time as Toni was about to kill you. After drinking nearly a full bottle of tequila to yourself, which you stole from behind the bar. You began making out with Toni’s new girlfriend, and also nearly got into a fight with nearly every guy you seen.”

Sweet pea froze he had no memory of this happening, yet it sounded like him. He didn’t care about the fighting, but hopefully If nobody else had seen him kiss the random girl he could sweet talk Topaz..

Jughead continued giving him a disapproving look. “Judging by the look on Nell’s face, I’d say she seemed pretty upset.”

“Nell was there? She saw?” He asked as his voice cracked.

Jughead could have sworn that wasn’t sweet peas real voice he was talking in, it was a voice laced with fear. 

_**Fuck fuck fuck**_ He jumped to his feet, revealing himself to Jughead since he had apparently stripped in the middle of the night.

“Seriously? Put some bloody pants on.” Jughead spat.

“What did Nell say? Was she upset? Did she go back to the trailer park?” He asked while shoving his clothes back on. 

“She looked like she was about to cry, and can’t say I blame her. I don’t know the full story, but I can take a guess.”

“Jones.” Sweet pea snapped in a warning tone. Jughead was a judgmental prick at the best of times, this would just another thing to hold over him. “With Nell... it’s not what you think, I care for her a lot more than you think. I love her and I fucked it up.”

There he had said it. He had finally admitted it out loud, and to himself.

Jughead smiled sarcastically at him, “Seems like it.”

Sweet pea sucked in a sharp breath at the thought of it. She’s now seen that side of him, the man slut was the one thing he wanted to keep away from her. Nell wouldn’t forgive him, and he didn’t deserve it, but it doesn’t hurt any less knowing it. A chill ran down his spine like an icy finger; goosebumps prickled at his skin. As a strange feeling began to build in his stomach. Guilt. He had to try his best to fix this.

“Cya Jones” was all he said before running out the house.

**Southside trailer park**

Sweet pea ran all the way from the Jones household to the Southside trailer park, after the trailer park was mostly rebuilt it was moved further back, a fun fact he always forgot about.

Once he reached the trailer panting and gasping for breath, he began banging on the door. After twenty minutes he had to stop, his knuckles had started to sting. He slid down on to the step at the door and pulled out his phone. He listened to it ring out before it went to voicemail. Sweet pea sighed before he spoke.

“Nell.. fuck I’ve no idea what to say. I’m fucking awful at all this shit. That girl in the bar she meant nothing to be, I don’t even know her name... I’m such a fucking idiot. I’ve ruined whatever we have, and honestly a part of me is glad. I’m glad because you deserve so much more than a Southside piece of trash like me, you are so much more than sneaking around for a quick fuck. You should be with someone you..”

Sweet pea almost jumped out his skin when he turned to see an older serpent from another trailer standing over his shoulder, along with FP. 

“Yeah that’s him, that’s the one it’s always running around with the girl. Waking me up at all hours of the night.” The old man moaned.

“Thank you, I’ll make sure they keep it down.” FP waited till the man was back in his trailer before turning to stare at sweet pea. “What the hell happened last night?”

Sweet pea shrugged his shoulder, “I don’t know.” He rolled his eyes, who did he piss off now.

“You don’t know? You don’t know!? You damn kids are giving me gray hairs. Serpents are fucking meant to look out for each.” FP’s face always turned red when he was furious, but this was the brightest shade it had ever been. “Get up, we need to go now.”

Sweet pea stood up hesitantly, “where are we going?” He asked cautiously.

Going anywhere with an angry FP was always a risk. Surly he wasn’t going to arrest him for something he down drunk? He would most likely make him apologize to someone and clean up whatever mess he had made the night before.

FP turned and looked at him, he was about to yell at him when he noticed his face. Then he suddenly realized, that Sweet pea was clueless. _The kid doesn’t know yet._ Sweet pea had no clue about what had happened. 

“Sweet pea, Nell was attacked walking home last night. She’s in the hospital. The ghoulie’s got her.”


	19. Chapter 19

_Tears poured unrelenting down her already soaked cheeks. Poured too fast for the wind to dry as she ran in the dark rainy night, she just wanted to be in the trailer park already. The bar was a blur through her tears, and she couldn’t see it anymore. It didn’t matter anyway - she wasn’t far enough away. She would never be far enough away._

_Her lover - former lover - had just made out with someone else. In front of her. They had one stupid petty argument over nothing, and he had moved on already. After telling sweet pea to fuck off on the phone, she began to feel bad about how upset he sounded. In a panic, she called him back, only for the call to go to voicemail. She then tried texting him a few times when that didn’t work, she went looking for him. If Nell knew what was on the other side of the bar door she would have stayed home. She was heartbroken - that they were done, and he had just given up. He hadn’t even bothered to tell her in person, or over a text. He didn’t care about her, she just needed to accept that._

_They were done._

_And she was now alone, in a town she had grown to hate. She needed to not be there. She needed to go. Nell needed to go. The sudden urge to scream was beginning to take over. Stopping in the middle of a street she couldn’t decide what to do. Go back to the trailer park, and cry herself to sleep? Go back to the bar and confront him? No. None of them seemed the best idea._

_As Nell tried to think, she noticed a car slowly coming to a stop beside her. She began to walk fast, and noticed the car moving again. Everything happened so fast. She just ran. Fully aware that she was now being followed. She ran full speed down the street, lungs burning as she pushed herself faster. She had ditched them a few minutes ago, but she kept running just in case, Nell didn’t know when the car had started to follow her. Had they been waiting for her to be alone all this time?_

_Without looking where she was going she turned into an alley, expecting it to be abandoned. It was not. She ran straight into someone, falling flat on her ass on the chilled, wet gravel. Nell yelped as it stung and looked up at the person she ran into, or people. It was a group of men, a mixture of badly done tattoos, extremely messy looking hair and low hung dirty told you exactly what kind of people they were. Ghoulies._

_Nell wished more than anything that Fangs, FP, Jughead, or even sweet pea would appear. But he was far too busy to care about her. Her mind was screaming run. Too late though, when she tried to scramble away one of the men grabbed her roughly by the arm, pulling her towards him and his assailants._

**Riverdale hospital**

She could hear the muted beeps. Feel the cold, dry air on her sore body. The tightness of tape on the skin of her arm, the burn of needles jammed into her veins.

She breathed in - a deep, pained exhale through her nose. Her right eye cracked open at the familiar voice; the lid still a raw pink at one side, and the other side was too swollen to open. She winced, her hips decorated in different shades of blue, yellow and purple. One knee was drawn to the side, her foot kicked out in discomfort as Nell’s left hand balled up in the stiff, sterile sheets. Her jaw clenched and then relaxed as best it could with stitching and bruising holding it shut. She swallowed, and her throat was on fire.

She was lucky though, right? After all, she was alive.

# ______

Nell thought nothing could be worse than being shot in the shoulder, or what the ghoulies did to her, but that was before she was woken to a small family reunion. Her mother and brother were standing in the hallway arguing with FP, and Fangs.

She thought about letting them know she was awake, but decided it was pointless. All they would do is blame her, and lecture her for being out alone at night when she should know better. Which was true, Nell knew she had brought it on herself. Also, the nurses had already lectured her that day. Not for being attracted, but because she hadn’t been eating or sleeping, and she was damaging her body.

Nell lay with her eyes closed trying to listen in to the conversations, happening on the other side of the door. She tried to open her mouth when someone entered the room, but her mouth wouldn’t move, and her eyes felt too heavy to move. Nell quickly fell asleep soon, as she was still exhausted. The last thing she remembered hearing a soft voice speaking to her. 

**Fangs trailer**

“It’s not my business but” 

“Then don’t get involved” Sweet pea snapped glaring at Jughead.

Someone needed to bring Nell clean clothes, when Jughead offered Sweet pea said he would drive him. He didn’t like the idea of somebody else taking care of her when he should be, plus he didn’t want anyone else rummaging through Nell’s underwear drawer. He knew was ‘toys’ she had in there, and thought it would embarrass her if anyone else seen it.

“You need to pull yourself together. I get you want to tell Fangs you cheated on his cousin before...” he stopped talking when he saw the other serpents face.

Sweet pea looked so lost. Jughead had never seen him look this way before, he suddenly seemed very upset. His eyes had started to fill with tears.

“I didn’t cheat.” Sweet pea hissed, “and you want to know why? I couldn’t. Me and Nell aren’t a couple because she doesn’t want me!” he yelled at him.

Jughead felt slightly uncomfortable, he was wrong. He thought it was just a case of Sweet pea getting bored and trying to move onto his next conquest, but there might have been more to the story.

“She told” he mumbled, “she fucking told me.”

Sweet pea was now pacing back forth. Tears had started spilling from his eyes, and his face and neck had turned red.

“What are you talking about?” Jughead asked confused.

“Nell she told me Ezra was after her...I didn’t believe her, I fucking didn’t believe her. I called her crazy, I actually called her that and that’s why she ended it with me.” Sweet pea had told Nell he was ‘done’ with them, but he didn’t mean it. He sighed and leaned against the wall. “If I had just kept my big trap shut we wouldn’t have got into an agreement, we wouldn’t have ended, and she...” he was cut off before he could finish.

“Don’t go there. You didn’t know, none of us could have known that she would have been jumped. Things could have possibly been worse if you were there.” Jughead shrugged. 

He wasn’t the best at comforting others, but it was the best that he had. Nell had been physically and verbally assaulted, however when Ezra attempted to rape her the other ghoulies pulled him back. None of them knew why, but they were all grateful. 

**Riverdale hospital**

FP was sitting outside the hospital along with Fangs, Jughead, and a guilty looking sweet pea.

His arms were crossed and his teeth were clenched as he fidgeted with his switchblade, FP was just hoping he was the only one who noticed the younger serpent's behavior. Sweet pea had filled him in on everything that had happened between him and Nell. The last thing anyone needed at this moment was a brawl between Fangs and Sweet pea, and no doubt his son would insert himself into it somehow.

He’d promised his friend Eddie he would keep an eye on both his kids. Now? He was left wondering the extent of what the rival gang members had done to Nell, and he didn’t even recognize Theo when he came in. FP wanted to ask repeatedly what the hell Nell was doing by herself at night, but he knew it wasn’t her fault. The four of them hadn’t spoken a word since Nell’s mother had left.

“This is bad.” Fangs broke the silence.

“When will they know the damage” Sweet pea asked, keeping his voice calm, even thought his mind was going a million miles per hour.

“The nurse said they might be awhile” Fangs answered. “She fought like hell. Not that it did much against them animals. I just don’t understand what she was doing in the first place. I thought she in my trailer...” Fangs looked close to tears, he felt responsible for her safety.

Jughead glanced at FP, who was mouthing ‘not now’ at sweet pea. His dad was right, this wasn’t the time. Plus, He wasn’t sure how Fangs would react. Probably not well.

Fangs frowned deepened. “Be honest FP, what did Nell’s mom say? And what are we going to do about the ghoulies?”

“Rue said she didn’t know about Nell being shot, or that she had even moved to Riverdale.”

“Do you believe that? I think she’s full of shit” he spat hissed. Fangs was so angry, not at FP but the whole situation was fucked. Now Rue lying was just angering him more.

“I agree. However, she gave me the address of where the little prick who caused all this is hiding. What do you boys think?” He asked, glancing at all three of them.

Jughead looked between his dad and the two other serpents, and thought of Nell laying in the hospital bed, In so much pain. The ghoulies had been a problem for a long time, but they kept becoming more dangerous. They had to be stopped. Nell had been shot, physically and verbally abused by them, they probably down stuff that she never admitted to either.

“I think they hurt a serpent, and they can’t get away with that” he said, all of them nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second last chapter For damsel in distress, as I’ll be continuing it in another story.


	20. Chapter 20

**Sweet peas trailer**

_A few months later..._

A loud thumping noise from the front door rang through the trailer.

“Nell, can you get that? I’m just drying off I’ll be out in a minute.” Sweet pea shouted from the bathroom.

Soon as Nell opened the door her heart dropped. Two police offers barged past her roughly, before dragging Sweet pea from the bathroom. They arrested him for murder. Shortly after Nell revived a phone call saying her cousin had been arrested as well. 

What the hell was going on? A few hours earlier her and Sweet pea had been having sex on the couch, and now he was gone.

Nell’s boyfriend was known for being a hot head who got into fights all the time, but he wasn’t capable of murder. And Fangs secretly hated fighting and avoided it when possible, it was utter madness. They didn’t even know who they were supposed to have killed. 

**Jugheads trailer**

Nell laid with her head on Toni’s shoulder, as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair. They were sitting inside FP’s trailer, while they tried to figure out what had just happened. The stress of the situation had caused Nell to have a panic attack, she would have been more embarrassed, but everyone except Toni was too Nell laid with her head on Toni’s shoulder, as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair. They were sitting inside FP’s trailer, while they tried to figure out what had just happened. The stress of the situation had caused Nell to have a panic attack, she would have been more embarrassed, but everyone except Toni was too stressed to notice.

“Son, sit down before you put holes in my floor.” FP said shaking his head, before stepping outside to take a phone call.

“They have been set up!” Jughead shouted frustrated. This couldn’t be happening. “Fangs and sweet pea beat him up, as I stood watch. But he was alive, I dropped him off in Greendale myself.”

Nell gave him a knowing look, as she sat fully upright and crossed her arms.

“Okay fine, I shoved him out the backseat. What’s the difference? He was still fucking alive” he pointed out.

“We know Jones, but ranting isn’t helping right now.” Toni said calmly. The past few months things had started to get better, how could this be happening?

When FP came into the trailer they all turned to look at him, he looked more stressed than before. “Ok”, he said clearing his voice. “They are being accused of murdering Lewis.. Ezra. They have both the boys DNA, and now a witness has come forward saying they saw them dumb the body.”/p>

Both girls looked close to tears, as Jughead let out a defeated sigh.

“That’s not all, Penny has offered to be a lawyer for the serpents.” FP continued to explain.

“Fuck no! She is probably one of the people who set them up!” Nell snapped. When did this all get so out of control? The boxes of snakes arriving had finally stopped, she had abandoned the idea of trying to rescue her brother, her body had finally started to heal. This was a nightmare, things couldn’t get any worse.

The three of them tried to guess who the witness could be, As Nell scratched her right ankle. Her new tattoo was itchy. As she stared at the two headed snake, a thought occurred to her. It was someone they knew..who would hate them enough to do it? It had to be someone who had a grudge against her and the serpents... she had her lightbulb moment. “It was Rue”, she blurted out.

They all turned to stare at her in shook, or disbelief. “Nell...are you sure?” Toni asked almost in a whisper. She didn’t know much about Nell’s history with her mother, but it couldn’t be that bad.

“Think about it. She practically gave you permission to get revenge on someone from her gang. When he attacked me, after she warned him not to he made a full of her. She would want that revenge on him, and to teach me a lesson. Two birds one stone.” Nell knew she was right, and it didn’t even surprise her. Her only problem now was proving it.

“Ok.” Toni hesitated “what do we do now?”

“We need proof. Rue is a smart woman, she won’t make this easy for us” FP said as he flipped through a takeaway menu. He reckoned this would be an all-nighter, and they would need something in their stomachs.

Jughead stood, pulling out his phone. “I think I know someone who can help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, finished the first part of this story, I’ve really appreciated all the likes and comments. The next story will continue where this left off, but will contain flashbacks of what happened that night, and what happened when Fangs heard Nell’s voicemail from Sweet pea. Enjoy!


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